By Jennifer P. Rendon
Another truck driver was arrested in a police anti-narcotics operation evening of Nov 24, 2020 in Leganes, Iloilo.
Ariel Canapit, 54, of Barangay Talaba, Badiangan, Iloilo, is now behind bars after he allegedly sold a sachet of suspected shabu to a police undercover agent.
Members of Leganes Police Station and the Iloilo Police Provincial Office-Provincial Drug Enforcement Unit (IPPO) Team 1 arrested Canapit after he received P10,000 for the sachet of suspected shabu.
After his arrest, police seized six more sachets of suspected shabu with an estimated value of P60,000, an improvised tooted, a mobile phone, a wallet with several identification cards, P600 cash, and the P10,000 marked/boodle money.
Captain Roy Tayona, Leganes police chief, said Canapit was classified as a street-level target. They got wind of his operation three weeks ago.
This was the first time that he was arrested for a drug-related charge.
Tayona claimed that Canapit admitted to selling drugs as his salary as a truck driver will not suffice to support his family.
But Tayona believed otherwise.
“We surmised that he went into addiction. When he could no longer sustain his drug use, he went into peddling,” he said.
Canapit allegedly got his supply from a drug personality operating in the province’s third district.
On October 25, Leganes policemen and IPPO-PDEU operations also arrested a truck driver at Barangay San Vicente, Leganes.
Jhonar Placido, 27, of Barangay Pandan, Leon, allegedly sold a sachet of suspected shabu worth P8,000 to a police undercover agent.
Police operatives yielded from him five more sachets of suspected shabu with an estimated street value of P96,000 to P100,000.
Orleans said the suspect drives a truck used in quarry operations.
Meanwhile, Colonel Gilbert Gorero, Iloilo police chief, has lauded Leganes Police Station for Canapit’s arrest.
Under his leadership, the Iloilo top cop vowed to pursue the war against illegal drugs and other forms of criminality.
