Takbo hotel, Check-in sa selda: Six nabbed in Dagupan Weste, Tabuk drug bust

TABUK CITY, Kalinga — Six individuals were arrested and about ₱31,960 worth of suspected shabu was seized during a buy-bust operation that led to a hot pursuit inside a hotel in Barangay Dagupan Weste on August 4.

According to the Tabuk City Police Station, the operation began at around 5:20 p.m. when operatives led by Police Major Dalmacio C. Mangigil conducted a buy-bust operation against a suspected drug personality.

Police said the suspect attempted to evade arrest by running back into the hotel and entering a fourth-floor room occupied by several companions. Operatives immediately pursued the suspect and entered the room, where they allegedly caught all six occupants in possession of and using illegal drugs.

Authorities recovered 10 heat-sealed plastic sachets containing suspected shabu—five large sachets (four sealed and one opened) and five small sachets containing a white crystalline substance. The confiscated drugs weighed approximately 4.7 grams and had an estimated standard drug price of ₱31,960.

The seized drugs and other pieces of evidence were marked, photographed, and inventoried at the scene in the presence of a barangay kagawad of Dagupan Weste, a media representative, and a Department of Justice (DOJ) representative, in accordance with the procedures under the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act.

The suspects and the confiscated evidence were later turned over to the Tabuk City Police Station for documentation and the filing of appropriate charges.

Police Lt. Col. Pacis, chief of the Tabuk City Police Station, warned individuals involved in the illegal drug trade that authorities will continue to intensify anti-drug operations.

"To those who continue to engage in the illegal drug trade and related criminal activities, be warned that the Tabuk City Police Station will relentlessly pursue all violators of the law," Pacis said.

The latest operation adds to the series of anti-illegal drug operations conducted by police in Tabuk City in recent years. In December 2022, authorities arrested two young women in a buy-bust operation in Barangay Bulanao and seized about 15 grams of suspected shabu worth ₱102,000.

Another street-level drug personality was also arrested in a separate buy-bust operation in Purok 6, Bulanao during the same month.