Local ‘drug lord’ posing as cop nabbed in SoCot town

GENERAL SANTOS CITY – Police arrested an alleged leader of a local drug group in an operation in a village in Surallan town, South Cotabato on Monday afternoon.

Chief Insp. Jardi Mont Sibal, chief of the Surallah municipal police station, said Tuesday suspect Lesther Bermil Carreon, 43, was nabbed at around 3 p.m. at a house in Purok Maligaya, Barangay Dajay.

Sibal said they launched the raid after receiving a report from concerned residents regarding the presence of a suspicious personality in the area.

The suspect, who has just rented a house in the village, reportedly introduced himself as a police officer.

“We immediately conducted a surveillance and found out that he was actually selling shabu (methamphetamine hydrochloride),” he said in a radio interview.

Recovered from Carreon were four sachets of suspected shabu and various drug paraphernalia, he said.

Sibal said they also found from the suspect’s possession a fake identification card supposedly issued by the Philippine Army’s Special Operations Command that named the latter as a confidential agent.

The Regional Police Drug Enforcement Unit-12 listed Carreon as a “local drug lord” and a “level 3” high-value target on President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s “narco list.”

Sources said the suspect, resident of Purok Malipayon, Barangay Topland in Koronadal City, had rented several houses in parts of South Cotabato and the neighboring areas for his illegal drug trading activities.

He is a cousin of another drug suspect Jonar Carreon, who was gunned down by motorcycle-riding suspects in Barangay Topland, Koronadal City last week. (PNA)