HIGH-VALUE TARGET. Department store saleslady Edelyn Cabarse (right), 34, and her cohort, Jona Gonzales, 41, a 'habal-habal' driver, were arrested in a buy-bust operation in Sitio Cogon, Labangon village, Cebu City on Tuesday afternoon (Nov. 5, 2019). Milva Mojado, Cebu provincial officer of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in Central Visayas, said confiscated from the duo was 400 grams of shabu worth P2.7 million. (Contributed photo)
CEBU CITY – A total of PHP2.7-million worth of illegal drugs was confiscated in a buy bust operation that led to the arrest of a department store saleslady who is identified as a high-value target (HVT) and her female companion in Sitio Cogon, Labangon village here.
Milva Mojado, Cebu provincial officer of Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), said the joint buy-bust operation on Tuesday afternoon by the Philippine National Police Drug Enforcement Group (PDEG) and Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) Station 10 led to the arrest of Edelyn Cabarse, 34, and Jona Gonzales, 41, a "habal-habal" driver, who is allegedly her lover.
The operatives recovered from the duo four large packs of suspected shabu weighing 400 grams with a Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) value of PHP2.72 million.
Senior Master Sergeant Marlon Lumayag, an operative of PDEG, said Cabarse was listed as an HVT who could dispose of a kilo of illegal drugs a week not just in the city but also in the neighboring cities of Mandaue and Talisay.
Cabarse was already incarcerated for several years because of an illegal drug case, but was released from the Cebu City Jail in May this year. She went on with her illegal drug trade after her release, the police said.
After months of surveillance, the joint operatives collared Cabarse and her cohort.
“The operation has been prepared for a month already by the PNP PDEG, but the subject can easily detect operatives. We are tracing as to where she got this large volume of illegal drugs,” said Leia Albiar, PDEA-7 spokesperson. (Fe Marie Dumaboc/PNA)
