Milaor drug raid; 4 of six suspects freed

NAGA CITY --- The four young men who were collared along with suspected drug pushing brothers in nearby Milaor, Camarines Sur last week that yielded P6M worth of shabu, an illegal drug, were freed and the case against them dismissed for lack of probable cause. It should be recalled that Sunday last week, operatives of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) swooped down on the residence of brothers McNeil and Tristan Abines y Bolocon and confiscated within the premises shabu with an estimated cost of P6M. Also present in the same house at the time of the search were Edwin Pequit, Meland Cabase, Ivan Soreta, and Benjamin Araojo. In the inquest resolution signed by Inquest Prosecutor Edred S. Dimabayao, it was admitted that the respondents were “lawfully arrested” for possession of shabu. It said that taking into account the evidence presented against brothers Mc Neil and Tristan that constitute violation of Section 11 of Art II of R.A. 9165. The prosecutor, however, noted that in the case of Pequit, Cabase, Soreta, and Araojo, their urine specimens during the mandatory drug testing show negative results of presence of shabu, or any other illegal drug. Further, it was opined that “there is also no evidence on record that the residential house subject of the search could be considered as “a place where any dangerous drug and/or controlled precursor and essential chemical is administered, delivered, stored for illegal purposes, distributed, sold or used in any form. Of the Abines brothers who have been booked for possession of illegal drugs, Tristan had once voluntarily surrendered to the police during the first launch of “Tokhang”, the anti-illegal drug campaign launched by the Duterte administration immediately after the newly-elected president took his past in June last year. The residence subject of the raid is located in front of the Milaor police station. jbp