Another suspected small-time drug pusher was apprehended by police authorities in Virac last week in an entrapment operation.
Intelligence operatives of the Virac Municipal Police Station headed by police chief PMaj. Kenneth Ding C. Gutierrez, together with personnel of the Catanduanes Provincial Intelligence Unit and Regional Police Drug Enforcement Unit 5, coordinated with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) Region 5 in launching the operation against the target, a tricycle driver from Palnab del Norte, Virac.
A source identified the suspect as one Rafael Talan Ubalde, who will be charged with violation of Section 5 of Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 for the sale of dangerous drugs.
In the operation that went down in the afternoon of March 26, 2026 along a deserted road in San Isidro Village, the police team recovered from the suspect two (2) heat-sealed transparent plastic sachets containing white crystalline granules believed to be shabu and worth P2,040 on the street.
Also confiscated were the P500 bill used as buy-bust money, two fake P500 bills, and the Yamaha YTX tricycle he was using at the time.
The marking of the evidence was done at the site of the operation and in the presence of a barangay kagawad and a member of the local media.
The police operatives used body-worn cameras in compliance with the Supreme Court guidelines for drug buy-bust operations.