Ex-antidrug cop No. 2 drug suspect in Capiz

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BY RESEL JOY TIANERO
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Saturday, April 22, 2017
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ARRESTED. Drug suspect Bobby Legaspi poses for a mug shot at the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) Region 6 office in Iloilo City on Friday, April 21. PDEA agents caught him in Ivisan, Capiz earlier that day. IAN PAUL CORDERO/PN
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ILOILO City – An early morning operation yesterday led to the capture of an elusive “high-value” illegal drug suspect in Ivisan, Capiz.

Former antinarcotics policeman Bobby Legaspi was No. 2 in the watch list of drug personalities of the Capiz Police Provincial Office.

Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) Region 6 agents raided Legaspi’s house in Barangay Malocloc Norte, Ivisan around 6 a.m. and found plastic packs of shabu.

The recovered prohibited drug weighed an estimated 50 grams and was worth P500,000, the PDEA said.

“Inaalam pa natin kung saan siya kumukuha ng stocks niya,” said PDEA assistant regional director Levi Ortiz.

The operation was staged on the strength of a search warrant issued by Regional Trial Court Branch 19 Judge Isabel Deslate.

Legaspi was detained in the PDEA regional office in this city.

Senior Superintendent Samuel Nacion, Capiz provincial police director, said they have been surveilling the suspect for a while now.

Legaspi actually turned himself in to the Ivisan police in line with the knock-and-appeal stage of Oplan Double Barrel dubbed “Tokhang,” only to return to the drug trade, said Nacion.

The 45-year-old drug suspect disengaged only “momentarily,” Nacion added.

Ranked Police Officer 1, Legaspi was a member of the Narcotics Command (Narcom) of the Philippine National Police national headquarters in Camp Crame in Quezon City before he was dismissed from the service for going AWOL (absent without official leave).

He entered the police service from 1999 and was dismissed in 2009. That was when he engaged in the drug business, said Ortiz.

The PDEA surveilled Legaspi for two weeks prior to his arrest. Last week the raiding team was able to buy a plastic pack of shabu from him.

“After the test buy, we applied for a search warrant so we could enter his house,” said Ortiz. “We seized a huge amount of drugs.”

Ortiz believes Legaspi has protectors that pave the way for him to acquire and peddle huge amounts of drugs.

“Medyo nahirapan kami dahil alam niya ang strategy ng PDEA at police kasi dating pulis siya, at Narcom pa siya,” said Ortiz.

Legaspi uses the ports of Ivisan and Roxas City in trafficking illegal drugs, the PDEA official said.

Meanwhile, suspected Iloilo drug lord Richard “Buang” Prevendido remains elusive.

The Police Regional Office 6 (PRO-6) has received text messages claiming Prevendido of Barangay Bakhaw, Mandurriao district was planning to surrender peacefully.

But the police wanted to double-check the messages.

“Wala man nagpakilala ang sender,” PRO-6 spokesperson Superintendent Gilbert Gorero earlier said. “But if Prevendido indeed wants to surrender, we welcome this.”

According to the texter, Prevendido feared he would be harmed or killed.

The city and provincial governments of Iloilo have a combined bounty of P1 million for Prevendido’s capture./PN

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