CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY—A suspected drug dealer long monitored by the police and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in Northern Mindanao was arrested by anti-narcotics operatives during a buy-bust operation over the weekend.
The suspect, Nobaisa Tanggo, has been on the Philippine National Police and PDEA’s watch lists “for a long time,” said Police Senior Insp. Maricris Mulat on Monday.
Tanggo, a resident of Barangay Bulua here, was caught selling suspected shabu to Divisoria police officers who posed as buyers on Sunday evening.
Taken from the suspect, Mulat said, were sachets of suspected shabu weighing about 210 grams, with an estimated street value of P1.5 million.
Authorities believed Tanggo is a big-time dealer, since her main customers are pushers from different areas in the city, she added.
The suspect, Mulat said, admitted to selling the illegal substance, but did not identify who her supplier is.
She said Tanggo has been dealing drugs ever since she was residing in Sto. Niño, a community near the Cogon public market area, one of the neighborhoods in Cagayan de Oro tagged as a drug hotspot.
In fact, Mulat added, Tanggo’s husband was arrested in 2011 for prohibited drugs, and is serving time at the Davao Prison and Penal Farm, formerly the Davao Penal Colony, in Panabo City.
Investigators managed to locate the suspect’s whereabouts after previously arrested drug personalities mentioned her name to police.
Tanggo is alleged to have a wide drug distribution network, Mulat said. Selling shabu “has become a family business,” aside from her husband, her siblings “are also into drug pushing,” she added.
Mulat said Tanggo had a huge house built in Bulua district. She even kept bank deposit slips signifying that she has been saving the proceeds she earned from selling the illegal substance, she added.
Meanwhile, a female “Tokhang” responder and two other suspected drug personalities were arrested by police and PDEA agents in a joint buy-bust operation in Barangay Camaman-an last Friday.
The suspects were identified by operatives as Jocelyn Pacanot, Cris Fuentes, and June Brazil, who are all residents of the same village.
Confiscated from the suspects were 13 sachets of suspected shabu valued at P20,000.
In an interview, Chief Inspector Ariel Philip Pontillas, of the City Drug Enforcement Unit, said Pacanot is number 3 on the PNP and PDEA list.