The Virac resident arrested last week in a drug buy-bust operation recently served time in prison for a similar offense, the Tribune learned.
Joebert Gianan Sorrera, 47, who was identified by an informed source, had been sentenced to an undetermined length of imprisonment in connection with Criminal Case Nos. 5894 and 5924 in 2018 filed before the Regional Trial Court in Virac.
He was apprehended by operatives of the Virac Municipal Police Station headed by police chief Maj. Kenneth Ding Gutierrez, together with the Regional Police Drug Enforcement Unit 5 (RPDEU5) and Police Intelligence Unit (PIU) Catanduanes, last Feb. 11, 2026.
The jobless resident of San Pedro was caught in the act of selling suspected shabu and marijuana to a police officer masquerading as a drug user in the operation conducted at the Zamboanga Farm area in barangay Cavinitan.
A search conducted in the presence of the suspect and designated witnesses led to the seizure of suspected shabu and dried marijuana leaves, with the latter submitted for laboratory examination.
He will be charged with violation of Section 11 of Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, for the sale of dangerous drugs.
Pursuant to the directive of Mayor Sinforoso Sarmiento Jr. to eradicate illegal drugs as well as the order of Catanduanes Police Director PCol. Elmer Cereno, the Virac MPS has implemented a stringent campaign against the scourge with the goal of ensuring that individuals involved in the use and sale of prohibited drugs would be caught and prosecuted under the law.