ILOILO City – A casual employee of the city government was arrested in a drug buy-bust operation in Barangay Desamparados, Jaro district yesterday morning.
But 47-year-old Rene Millan of Barangay General Hughes here claimed the shabu recovered from him was “planted.”
According to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) Region 6, Millan sold to its agent a sachet of suspected shabu worth P1,500 and that five more sachets with a total street value of P34,000 were further recovered from the suspect.
Millan was under the city government’s Local Economic Enterprise Office, and specifically assigned at the Jaro big market.
According to PDEA agent Jeanette Reyes, Millan was placed under surveillance for quite some time before yesterday’s buy-bust.
PDEA received intelligence information that the suspect was operating in the City Proper and Jaro district, and that he was allegedly a down line of drug suspect Antonio Romero who was also arrested in a drug operation in January this year.
Millan denied owning the seized illegal drugs; he claimed they were planted.
He said he had just finished cleaning the market’s comfort room when personnel of PDEA suddenly collared him and later on arrested and handcuffed.
“Nakibot lang ko nga ila ako ginpalibotan tapos may droga na nga na-recover kuno. Indi ‘to akon ang shabu…planted lang ‘na,” Millan said.
He, however, admitted that he was once a drug user.
Reyes said this was the common alibi of drug pushers once arrested.
Millan was detained in the PDEA lockup cell./PN
