BY MA. THERESA LADIAO
ILOILO – Authorities seized P1,020,000 worth of illegal drugs from a high-value drug suspect in a buy-bust operation in Barangay Mali-ao, Pavia town early Saturday morning, February 1.
Police Lieutenant Gabriel Manguera, deputy chief of the Pavia Municipal Police Station (MPS), said the suspect identified as Arje Betita, 44, a resident of Barangay Ungka, Jaro, Iloilo City, is the son of the former mayor of Carles town.
He had previously been arrested and jailed for the same offense in 2020, Manguera added.
The suspect was caught after he sold a medium-sized heat-sealed plastic sachet containing suspected shabu to an undercover police officer for P15,000.
Further search led to the discovery of seven more heat-sealed plastic sachets and two knot-tied transparent sachets of suspected shabu. The confiscated illegal substance weighed approximately 150 grams.
Also recovered were buy-bust money amounting to P15,000 and non-drug-related items.
Betita is now in the custody of the Pavia MPS pending the filing of appropriate charges./PN
