Pubdate: Tue, 03 Dec 2002 Source: Sunstar Pangasinan (Philippines) Copyright: 2002 Sunstar Contact: http://www.sunstar.com.ph/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1726 Author: Fred P. Macaraeg COPS TO GO AFTER PANTAL DRUG DEALERS INTELLIGENCE operatives of the Dagupan City Police Office have been monitoring the movements of suspected drug personalities in Barangay Pantal. Chief Insp. Rogelio Danoli, chief of the police intelligence section, said although his group is busy with other police activities and operations, "we have been undertaking surveillance in Pantal." He said police operatives already coordinated with local officials led by barangay captain Mario Rayos for help in monitoring the activities of drug dealers and users in their community. The City Anti-Drug Abuse Council has found Pantal as having the most drug abuse problem while Bonuan Gueset was tagged as having the most number of drug dealers among the 31 barangays in Dagupan City. It will be recalled, however, that one of the arrested five big-time drug dealers at the Dagupan Garden Hotel on Wednesday last week is Larry Ferrer from Pantal. Ferrer, together Antonio Montoya Jr. and Ferdinand Dunca, both of Rosales town, had been caught by police operatives in the act of repacking shabu in one of the rooms of the hotel. On the other hand, Rayos admitted that his barangay is becoming the haven of drug pushers and users that he vowed to help the police clear the community of the social menace. "We have to protect the youth and to sway them away from the illegal drugs to assure their better future and do not end up as problems of society. We should also assure peace and security of the people in community as it is beyond our knowledge that several crimes that had been committed are drug-related," he said. Meanwhile, Danoli said the arrested drug pusher in Barangay Calmay in Dagupan is a small-time drug dealer. Santy de Vera was also caught in the act of repacking the illegal crystalline drug in his house when the police operatives were about to serve the search warrant issued by the court. Confiscated from his possession were six small plastic sachets of shabu and other drug paraphernalia. Danoli said the drug seized from De Vera is too small as compared to the shabu confiscated from the five drug dealers at the hotel. Results of the examinations on the evidence seized in the two incidents proved they are positively methamphetamine hydrochloride, he said. - --- MAP posted-by: Derek