BUSTED. Authorities arrest a high-value target from Tarlac in a buy-bust operation on Wednesday (July 12, 2023) at Lingayen town, Pangasinan. The operation resulted in the confiscation of PHP2 million of shabu from the suspect. (Photo courtesy of Pangasinan Police Provincial Office)
LINGAYEN, Pangasinan – Law enforcement officers seized PHP2 million worth of shabu in a buy-bust operation targeting a high-value individual at Barangay Poblacion in Lingayen town on Wednesday.
In an interview on Thursday, Pangasinan Police Provincial Office information officer Capt. Renan dela Cruz identified the suspect as Jonathan dela Rosa Martin, 36, resident of Camiling, Tarlac.
He said the buy-bust operation was conducted following a series of monitoring on the activities of the suspect in the province.
“Hindi siya taga Pangasinan, taga Tarlac siya pero labas pasok siya sa probinsya, kaya ilang linggo din siyang binantayan. May boarding house siya sa Malasiqui at nung na-validate yung information na nagbebenta siya ng illegal na droga ay ikinasa ang operation (He is not from Pangasinan, he is from Tarlac but he’s in and out of the province so we monitored him for couple of weeks. He has a boarding house in Malasiqui town and when the information was validated that he sells illegal drugs, then the operation was implemented),” he said.
Authorities have confiscated from the possession of the suspect more or less 300 grams of shabu aside from the buy-bust money and other non-drug items, including his motorcycle and a cellular phone.
Dela Cruz said the suspect was arrested for illegal drug cases in the National Capital Region (NCR) in 2014 and in Tarlac in 2019.
“He availed of plea bargaining in 2019. And he just recently posted bail on April this year for his temporary freedom, but then, he again returned to his old ways,” he said.
Dela Cruz said they are investigating further the transactions of the suspect.
“Isa sa tinitingnang anggulo sa dami ng droga ay gusto namin malaman sino supplier at sino nasa likod kasi malakas loob niya considering kakalaya lang niya at kung sino man ang may impormasyon ay makipagtulungan para mahuli ang supplier. Karamihan sa mga parokyano niya ay mula sa labas ng lalawigan ginagawa lang na transaction area dito kasi alam nila na di sila pwede dito (One of the angles we wanted to check with the big amount of illegal drugs is the supplier and who is behind him for his boldness considering he just recently came out from jail so if anyone has information let us know for us to capture the supplier. Most of his customers were from other provinces but they do the transaction in Pangasinan because they know they are not allowed to stay here),” he said.
The suspect is now temporarily detained at the Lingayen Police Station while the case for violation of Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 was filed in court. (PNA)
