A court-ordered search led to the arrest of two fish vendors in Virac who yielded two sachets of suspected shabu last week, a day before an alert security guard at the Catanduanes National High School discovered dried marijuana in the pocket of a student.
A report from the Catanduanes Police Provincial Office said that the duo nabbed in barangay Palnab del Norte were both fish vendors at the Virac Public Market but a Tribune source claimed that they usually sold fish at a makeshift stall along the road in the barangay.
The police did not provide the names of the vendors but the woman, 29, was tagged as High-Value Individual (HVI) while her 36-year-old live-in partner was a newly identified player in the local illegal drug trade.
They were arrested at 9:16 PM of June 17, 2026 at their residence by personnel of the Virac Municipal Police Station as the lead unit and under the supervision of Chief of Police PMaj. Kenneth Ding C. Gutierrez, together with elements of the Regional Police Drug Enforcement Unit (RPDEU) 5 and the Catanduanes Police Intelligence Unit (CatPIU), on the basis of a search warrant for violation of Republic Act 9165 issued by Regional Trial Court Executive Judge Candice Guada Cresilda C. Almodovar-Tordilla.
In the presence of the required witnesses, the search team discovered three (3) sachets containing white crystalline substance believed to be shabu and with an estimated weight of 6.0 grams.
Also seized as evidence were non-drug items such as a tube pipe, water pipe, Vivo mobile phone, aluminum foil, transparent plastic container, crumpled aluminum foil, and improvised aluminum tooter.
The drug evidence, with an approximate street value of P40,800.00, is now in the custody of the investigator pending the return of the search warrant and laboratory examination.
Both fish vendors will face charges of violation of Section 11 of RA 9165 for possession of dangerous drugs.
Just 12 hours later, at 10 AM of June 18, at the province’s biggest high school, guard Efren S. Sarmiento was manning the CNHS main gate when he detected the smell of cigarette smoke emanating from a student who had just entered.
When the guard asked the unidentified student what was in his pocket, the 17-year-old boy from barangay Palta Small pulled out a green cigarette lighter.
The guard invited the student to the guard post for further questioning and, in the presence of fellow security officers Jose Pepe Condeno and Arnel Quiñones, noticed a certain plastic material visible in the right pocket of the student’s jeans.
Suspecting that it contained prohibited items, Sarmiento asked the student to remove the plastic from his pocket and the latter complied.
Asked about its contents, the student opened the plastic, which revealed suspected dried marijuana leaves.
Upon discovering the suspected illegal substance, the guard immediately notified the school administrator and then reported the incident to the Virac MPS for appropriate action.
Personnel from the Virac MPS led by Duty Investigator Glend O. Bonifacio promptly proceeded to the CNHS and conducted an initial investigation.
At the police station and in the presence of the student, the three security guards and designated witnesses, the police conducted an inventory of the items recovered from the student, including the two sachets containing dried leaves believed to be marijuana, a tube pipe containing partially burned dried leaves believed to be marijuana, a folded paper containing similar dried leaves, a green lighter and an Oppo cellular phone.
The two sachets, which weighed about 2.46 grams, and the dried leaves in the folded paper, with a weight of 0.73 gram, were brought to the Provincial Forensic Unit 5 at Camp Francisco Camacho for laboratory examination.
The rescued minor was properly apprised of his Constitutional rights and subjected to a mandatory medical examination at Eastern Bicol Medical Center.
Then he was turned over to the Municipal Social Welfare and Development (MSWD) Office for appropriate intervention and custody, with the minor’s parents informed of the incident.