A former convict was arrested by police after he was allegedly caught in the possession of shabu worth P1.4 million in Dauis town, raising the total number of big-time drug busts in the fourth-class municipality to three in a span of just a month.
Operatives of the Dauis Police Station collared Alan Olalo, 53, a resident of Barangay Taloto in Tagbilaran City, during a buy-bust operation on Saturday night.
According to Dauis police chief Lt. Thomas Zen Cheung, Olalo traveled from Tagbilaran City on board a habal-habal (motorcycle-for-hire) to Barangay Mayacabac in Dauis to sell shabu worth P20,000 to an undercover agent leading to his immediate arrest.
Olalo who had been tagged as a high-value individual (HVI) was placed under surveillance for several weeks and was pinpointed to have been operating in Tagbilaran City, Dauis and Panglao and other neighboring municipalities.
Monitoring of Olalo started when authorities received information on his illegal-drug operation through follow-up investigations conducted after the apprehension last month of John Albert Iter who was caught in possession of P8.5 million shabu, the largest single-operation drug haul since 2020.
“Follow up ra ni sa adtong last na nadakpan og kinilo, mga gaway-gaway ni sila,” said Cheung.
Cheung noted that both Iter and Olalo received their drug supply from the same source.
The police chief noted that both men and other drug peddlers are part of one compartmentalized group in which the suspects themselves are not aware to be existent.
“Wa ni silay [suspects] alamag na nahug ni sila og mura’g sindikato. Ang ilahang role ra ani nila is basta mo dawat sila og shabu, mao ran a ilaha pero og tan-aw nimo ang mga report, magka-link link ra gyud ni sila tanan,” said Cheung.
Olalo was previously apprehended by police for a drug charge and was convicted in 2016.
He was released in 2018 after serving his sentence but allegedly continued his involvement in the illegal drug trade.
Since late January, there has been a series of drug bust in Dauis which yielded shabu worth over P1 million.
On January 23, police allegedly seized from Falcris Felcris Vaño, a 26-year-old resident of Dauis, shabu worth P1.7 million.
Two days later, police apprehended Iter and recovered his 1.2-kilo drug stash. (AD)