Baguio City–Operatives of the Ilocos Office of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA RO1) and PDEA Cordillera Administrative Region arrested a 48-year-old female drug pusher and her companion in a buy-bust operation last Novembe 7 in Barangay Caguioa Rimando Road here.
Sources said that suspect, Loida Bulangen Cabbigat, an Ifugao native, has been selling the banned amphethamine hydrochloride or shabu to known substance abusers through her cellular phone. Law enforcers posing as buyers of the illegal drug contacted Cabbigat by mobile phone. The suspect accepted the transaction and agreed to meet them at a local gas station here.
Cabbigat arrived on a pick-up truck driven by 44- year old Frederick Lucas Espada. The law enforcers immediately verified the items and gave the go- signal to waiting anti-narcotics agents who then arrested Cabbigat and Espada, after identifying themselves.
Cabbigat and Espada are temporarily detained at the PDEA CAR Regional Headquarters while court cases for violating provisions of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 are being prepared against them.
Selling of illegal drugs carries a penalty of life imprisonment with a fine of P500,000 to P10-M. There is also a corresponding penalty for possession of equipment, instrument, apparatus and other paraphernalia for dangerous drugs.
Confiscated from Cabbigat were a sachet of shabu with an estimated weight of .5 grams, various drug paraphernali and the cellular phone she used in the transaction. The utility truck has been impounded at the PDEA CAR regional headquarters.
Newly- installed Ilocos Regional PDEA Director Bryan B. Babang lauded the coordinated efforts of the anti-narcotics operatives, saying, “IIlegal drugs are not hindered by jurisdictional boundaries, so must our troops in order to keep our streets safe.” . PDEA-RO1