The Panglao Police Station scored big in what was their first anti-illegal drug operation for the year on Wednesday night.
Panglao police chief Capt. Romar Labasbas said that they seized shabu worth P748,000 from a man deemed a high-value target (HVT) in their anti-drug campaign and two of his alleged cohorts during a drug buy-bust operation in Barangay Danao.
According to Labasbas, the Panglao police together with the 1st District Drug Enforcement Unit and Maritime Police arrested HVT Jonar Cutamora, 29, of Trinidad town, who has been operating for a long time in Panglao and has been monitored by the police for about a month.
The operatives collared Cutamora and two others after they allegedly sold shabu worth P1,000 to a poseur-buyer. Police also seized 110 grams of shabu from the suspects.
“Kani si Cutamora dugay na g’yud ni na lista na high-value target, almost one month nato ni gi-surveillance,” he said.
Labasbas suspected that Cutamora’s operations reached beyond the town given the quantity of shabu seized from him and his cohorts who were identified as Evander Chatto, 27, and Lorenzo Jaculba, 37, both Tagbilaran City residents.
“Base sa kantidad sa nakuha, dili lang ni Panglao, diri pud ni sa ubang district sa Bohol,” Labasbas said, noting that Cutamora could have also operated in his hometown of Trinidad and nearby towns.
The police started surveillance on Cutamora early in December through information gathered from previously nabbed alleged drug dealers in the town.
All three alleged drug dealers are now detained at the Panglao Police Station pending the filing of charges against them for violations against Section 5 (sale) and Section 11 (possession) of Republic Act 9165, or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.
Labasbas noted that Cutamora was also previously arrested for a drug charge but was later released through a plea bargain deal. (Allen Doydora)