ANOTHER policeman tasked to go after traffickers and peddlers of illegal drugs in the country was arrested by fellow cops in an anti-drug operation in Manila last Monday night.
PNP chief Rodolfo Azurin Jr. said the arrest of Staff Sergeant Ed Dyson Banaag, assigned with the PNP Drug Enforcement Group (PDEG) at Camp Crame, is part of the police force’s internal cleansing efforts.
Banaag was arrested by operatives of the Regional Drug Enforcement Unit of the National Capital Region Police Office in a buy-bust operation along Rizal Ave., corner Lope De Vega St., in Barangay 312, Sta. Cruz, Manila at around 6:51 p.m.
Seized from him was a plastic sachet containing 25 grams of shabu worth P170,000; the buy-bust money; a 9mm pistol with magazine and ammunition; a PNP identification card, a motorcycle, and a cell phone.
The arrest of Banaag came after the October 9 arrest of another PDEG operative, Master Sergeant Rodolfo Mayo, who was nabbed in a follow-up operation in Manila with two kilos of shabu worth P13.6 million.
A day before Mayo’s arrest, policemen arrested a drug dealer, Ney Atadero, during a buy-bust operation in Manila.
Atadero admitted that a large quantity of shabu was being kept at a lending company owned by Mayo in Sta Cruz, Manila. A search of the company premises yielded 990.1 kilos of shabu worth P6.7 billion.
“This (arrest of Banaag) shows that our campaign against illegal drugs is continuing. Our policemen are arresting those involved, even if they are policemen,” said Azurin.
“This is part of our internal cleansing that we are doing,” added Azurin.
Azurin reiterated his call for policemen involved in illegal drugs to retire from the service “because we are certain that they are going to be caught by our operatives.”
Azurin said Banaag will face criminal charges, on top of the administrative charges to be prepared by the PNP Internal Affairs Service.
Azurin said Banaag was recently assigned to PDEG from the PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group. He said Banaag has yet to formally report to the PDEG.
PNP Public Information Office chief Col. Redrico Maranan said Banaag was assigned with PDEG effective January 4.
“Until now, until his arrest, he has yet to report there (at PDEG),” he said.
“The instruction of the PNP chief is very clear. Our colleagues who refuse to reform and engage in illegal drug activities will be arrested, charged and detained,” said Maranan.
Maranan said any policeman who will be caught involved in illegal drugs will be dismissed from the service “as soon as possible.”
He said the arrest of Banaag was a product of a “very meticulous and time-consuming” intelligence operation.
“The arrest of Banaag is just a proof of our continuing efforts to cleanse our ranks (of rogue personnel),” added Maranan.
Police seized ₱68,000 worth of suspected dangerous drugs and arrested a jobless man in a buy-bust operation in Pasig City last Monday night.
Col. Celerino Sacro Jr., local police chief, identified the suspect as an alias DJ, 28, a resident of Barangay Pinagbuhatan, Pasig City. — With Christian Oineza