A suspected drug dealer who sourced his shabu supply from slain alleged big-time drug personality Richie Banquil was arrested by police in the wee hours of Friday, just several hours after the latter was gunned down by police in Tubigon.

Monchito “Balong” Luisen, 29, was arrested along with his alleged cohort in the drug trade Robert Estorva, 27, during a buy-bust operation in Barangay Ubujan at 2 a.m., said Master Sgt. Rani Damos, head of the Tubigon Police Station’s intelligence unit.

According to Damos, Luisen has long been sourcing his drug supply from Banquil based on their surveillance operations.

Lusien and Esorva allegedly yielded 12 sachets of shabu which were estimated to be worth P15,000.

Both remained under the custody of the Tubigon Police Station pending the filing of charges against them.

Banquil, who was tagged as a high value drug target, was shot dead by police after allegedly resisting arrest during a raid at his home which authorities believed was a drug “bodega” on Thursday morning.

A composite police team led by the Regional Special Operations Group (RSOG) 7 seized P6.8 million worth of shabu and 169 tablets of suspected ecstasy in Banquil’s property.

They also arrested Banquil’s sister, Cristina, and three others identified as Romel Ullyamot, Junrey Taghap and Jayson Asuela.

Major Jojit Mananquil who led the RSOG 7 team during the operation said that Banquil’s shabu supply was sourced from Cebu based on their monitoring. (AD)