2 ex-deliverymen arrested in P10.4M ‘Lacion buy-bust

TWO former deliverymen were arrested in a buy-bust conducted by local police in Barangay Casili, Consolacion town on Friday night, March 26, 2021.

Local police arrested Mark John Rabanes, 26, and Diomel James Rebusa, 27, both natives of Ozamiz City, Misamis Occidental but temporarily residing on B. Rodriguez St., Cebu City.

The two were previously working as deliverymen for a delivery services firm booking services through an app, until they decided to sell drugs for a living.

Recovered from the two were 1,525 grams of suspected shabu worth P10.4 million.

But in a separate interview, the two suspects denied owning the drugs recovered from them.

Police Maj. Verniño Noserale, Consolacion police chief, said they conducted the buy-bust against the two suspects at 8:30 p.m. on Friday.

Noserale said they had been monitoring the movements of the two suspects since last November.

“We received information that they have been operating in the town but have been changing their schemes to avoid being detected by the police,” Noserale said in Cebuano.

The two are now being investigated to determine their illegal drug source.

But Col. Alladin Collado, Cebu Police Provincial Office (CPPO) director, believes the illegal drugs may have been sourced from Manila due to their packaging.

When the two suspects were arrested, the illegal drugs recovered from them were packed in green Chinese Tea bags.

Collado said he has tasked his personnel to conduct a deeper investigation to determine the source of the illegal drugs.

But according to Rebusa and Rabanes, they were ordered by someone to deliver the illegal drugs in Consolacion and get paid P10,000 once the package was already delivered.

Consolacion Mayor Joannes Alegado, who witnessed the arrest of the two men personally, thanked the police for conducting the operation.

“With this big development, it’s a huge help in curtailing the drug menace, most especially here in our municipality as well as this will bring peace to each home,” Alegado said. (AYB / JKV)