GENERAL SANTOS CITY – Two contractual employees of a local government-run hospital in Sarangani province who allegedly doubled as drug pushers were arrested in separate anti-drug operations on Sunday.
Kath Abad, spokesperson of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) in Region 12, said Monday the suspects were nabbed in joint entrapment operations in Alabel town, Sarangani province, and this city.
Abad said PDEA-12 and Sarangani police collared suspect Reu Karl Acebedo alias “Karl,” 28, around 3:40 p.m. Sunday near his home in Purok Fatima, Barangay Maribulan, Alabel.
During the transaction, she said the suspect sold a sachet of suspected shabu worth PHP500 to a PDEA-12 agent who posed as a buyer.
Abad said Acebedo, an administrative aide of the Sarangani Medical Center based in Alabel, yielded in a subsequent search five more sachets of suspected shabu weighing some 0.2 gram worth PHP1,360.
In a follow-up operation around 7 p.m., she said a team of PDEA-12 and police operatives arrested Acebedo’s alleged cohort identified as Samuel Tupas Jr. alias “Sam,” 32, in a buy-bust in Purok 2, Barangay Buayan here.
Tupas, a resident of San Antonio Village in Koronadal City, was a co-worker of Acebedo at the Sarangani Medical Center and assigned as an ambulance driver.
“He (Tupas) was reportedly the source of shabu peddled by Acebedo,” she said in a report.
Abad said the two reportedly operate in this city, Alabel town, and nearby areas in Sarangani province.
He said the two, who are detained at the PDEA-12 lockup cell here, will be charged with selling and possession of dangerous substance or violation of Sections 5 and 11 of Republic Act 9165 or the Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002. (PNA)
