By the Bohol Chronicle
A drug suspect who is a member of the City Monitoring Team under the office of the city mayor would have finally fallen in a drug sting early morning Thursday but still managed to escape from a cordon of some 30 joint operatives of the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) unit and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA).
The daring escape of one Filbert Ingles, who is in the police "hot list" of notorious drug pushers, has led some quarters to question whether some policemen are indeed in cahoots with drug dealers.
SWAT, which is the elite group of Bohol PNP stormed the residence of Ingles in Sitio Lanao, barangay Dao, this city, around 5 a.m. Thursday to enforce a search warrant issued by Regional Trial Court Executive Judge Fernando Fuentes III for the subject's alleged involvement in the selling of the illegal substance methamphetamine hydrochloride, more commonly known as shabu.
Operatives cornered Ingles and his brother Junieveve who were later secured in separate rooms as the raiding team started searching for evidence of the illegal substance at the residence.
In a matter of minutes, Ingles was nowhere to be found when agents checked the room where he entered while the search was in progress.
C/Insp. Nicomedes Olaivar, head of the supposedly elite and well trained SWAT, said they did not know the room had another door apparently used by Ingles to escape.
A manhunt operation was immediately called with the help of the City PNP and other police units to arrest Ingles. But until presstime, the suspect continues to elude the police dragnet.
The raiding team recovered several empty transparent sachets with powder residues believed to be shabu, assorted paraphernalia for the use of the illegal substance, a hand grenade, a caliber .22 handgun, live ammunition for .22, .38 and .45 caliber pistols and 3 identification cards showing that the suspect is a member of the City PNP Monitoring Team, a group created and supervised by the office of Mayor Dan Lim.
Olaivar admitted the operation was their initiative having learned that Ingles was among big-time shabu peddlers not only in the city but also in nearby towns.
However, another source told the Chronicle that it was PDEA regional offices under its chief, Yogi Ruiz which initiated the extended surveillance of the suspect based in Dao district, this city. In fact, they sent operatives here to conduct the surveillance. A week before the raid, PDEA received a "helping hand" offer from SWAT Bohol to conduct the buy bust operation and eventually the actual raid, Ruiz said.
"Trusting so much, the SWAT being an elite group of the PNP," Ruiz said they agreed that the SWAT team will conduct the raid last Thursday with PDEA only supervising the raid.
It may be recalled that an exclusive PDEA Cebu team had earlier successfully raided the residence of businessman Boy Enerio last month, without the aid of the SWAT group under Olaivar.
Juniveve is detained at the Bohol Police Provincial Office in Camp Dagohoy and will be charged for violating Art. 2, Sec. 11 of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Law after the operatives recovered from him the empty sachets believed to be containing shabu residue.
Olaivar said they will also file a similar charge against Ingles but there will be three other charges for illegal possession of firearms and ammunition, illegal possession of an explosive and for evading police custody.
Olaivar disclosed that through Ingles's lawyer, he asked the suspect to submit to the authorities or face stiffer penalties for the multiple charges they will file against him.
STRING OF RAIDS
While the SWAT team received public criticism due to the botched raid, the same group succeeded in a buy-bust operation Wednesday night arresting one Dennis Yu, 23, a resident of Gallares Street, this city.
A poseur-buyer confirmed that Yu was peddling shabu which led SWAT operatives to arrest the subject at the Honeybee building along J. Borja Street, this city.
Yu was found to be in possession of two sachets containing suspected shabu granules and P900 cash which was used by the poseur-buyer.
The suspect is charged for violation of Art. 2, Sec. 5 of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Law.
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