ILOILO City – Two ex-convicts were back in jail after they were arrested in an anti-illegal drug operation on Monday, January 5, in Barangay Tanza Bonifacio, City Proper district here.
Police identified the suspects as aliases “Tangtang,” 48, a resident of Iloilo City, and “Bebe,” 30, of Zarraga, Iloilo, who were previously convicted of robbery and illegal drug charges, respectively.
Operatives of the Police Regional Office 6’s (PRO-6) Regional Drug Enforcement Unit 6 (RDEU-6) carried out the operation at around 9 p.m. and seized from the suspects nine heat-sealed transparent plastic sachets and four knot-tied transparent plastic bags of suspected shabu weighing around 320 grams and approximately valued at P2.2 million.
Also recovered were P14,000 in buy-bust money, several drug paraphernalia, and non-drug-related items.
According to Major Marvin Villanueva, deputy chief of RDEU-6, they conducted a one-month monitoring before the suspects, who were tagged as high-value targets, were apprehended.
“We are still investigating the two suspects to determine the source of their illegal drugs,” Villanueva told Panay News.
Villanueva said that Tangtang was arrested sometime in 2010 for robbery. He was released from the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City in 2017.
Bebe, meanwhile, was caught in May 2014 but was released after five months via a plea bargaining agreement.
Both suspects were detained at Iloilo City Police Station 1. They will be charged for violation of Sections 5, 11, and 26 of Republic Act 9165, or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002./PN
