LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – Seven individuals, including six minors, were arrested by combined police operatives and anti-narcotics agents after having been caught in the act of being involved in an alleged ‘pot session’ inside an abandoned house at Wangal, here, Tuesday morning.
Police authorities identified one of the arrested drug users as Genesis Cabigting Hernandez, 18, single, farmer and a resident of Sabdang, Shilan, La Trinidad, Benguet while the names of his six other companions were withheld considering that they were reportedly minors although one of them was described as an alleged grandson of a prosecutor and the other was an alleged grandson of a former punong barangay in a town of Benguet.
Initial police investigation showed that informants reported to the La Trinidad Municipal Police Station the presence of alleged drug users who were conducting an alleged ‘pot session’ inside an abandoned house in the said area.
Upon the conduct of validation efforts by the police authorities, it was confirmed that there was an ongoing ‘pot session’ in the abandoned house that prompted the members of the operating team to pass through the backdoor that caught the involved personalities by surprise.
Confiscated from the possession of the arrested drug users were one marijuana stalk weighing some 145 grams with an estimated market value of P17,000, two lighters and 6 mobile phones.
The arrested individuals and the confiscated pieces of evidence were brought to the La Trinidad Municipal Police Station for documentation prior to the filing of the appropriate charges against them before the Benguet Provincial Prosecutor’s Office.
The arrested minors were turned over to the Municipal Social Welfare and Development Office while their adult companion was detained to the La Trinidad Municipal Jail awaiting the outcome of the case filed against them.
By Dexter A. See
