Here's bad news to drug personalities who are remiss in their duties to remit the proceeds due their drug sources in the clandestine operations of the widening drug business in the province. Maybe unknown to the drug denizens in Bohol, a gun-for-hire ring that specializes in liquidating errant drug dealers was on the loose until it was busted Friday dawn. Friday dawn saw the arrest of three persons in Ubay suspected to be allegedly behind the series of killings and proliferation of illegal drugs in the second district towns of the province. Seized during a police raid in Ubay town by virtue of a court-issued search warrant against the suspects were several high-powered firearms and ammunitions, drug paraphernalia, packs of shabu, and P80,000 cash. The raiding team, led by personnel of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), Provincial Public Safety Company (PPSC-SWAT), and Ubay Police Station, believed that the arrest of the suspects would cast light on some of the unsolved killings in Bohol.

Identified as alleged head of the gun-for-hire ring, and a big-time illegal drug trader is a certain Romulo Caño, a resident of Poblacion, Ubay, who was caught in possession of several unlicensed guns. Also arrested were Armando Palmero and Arthur Caño, brother of Romulo, who is better known as “Inday Bono” in the town of Ubay, and was the subject of the search warrant issued by Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 47 Executive Judge Suceso A. Arcamo. Based on police inventory, arrested items were one piece large size transparent heat sealed cellophane sachet containing powder believed to be shabu; three pieces of tinfoil strips; two pieces improvised tooters; two pieces clip stick; ten pieces disposable lighters; one box containing voluminous cellophane; four pieces straw; one unit weighing scale; one roiled tinfoil; and two bundle cellophane and money amounting to P80,000. Weapons recovered by the police from “Inday Bono” were one unit Smith and Wesson .38 revolver without serial number; one unit .45 caliber pistol (colt nickel) without serial number; another one unit .45 caliber pistol; one unit .45 caliber pistol (nickel) colt MKIV with serial number 7686808; one unit .45 caliber pistol Norinco without serial number; four pieces extended magazine of .45 caliber pistol; two pieces hi-cap magazine of .45 caliber pistol; four pieces magazine of .45 pistol; 37 pieces ammunitions of .45 caliber pistol and four pieces of holster.

In the said joint operation, police seized from Palmero, believed to be a look-out man for Inday Bono, was a Smith and Wesson .38 caliber revolver loaded with five ammos. Authorities also confiscated from the possession of Arthur a colt 1911A1 .45 caliber pistol with serial number 544762 loaded with a magazine with six bullets. The gun was found to be a property of the United States government, being issued to the US Military. It was not known how a US-government property came into the hands of a Boholano assassin- suspect. Bohol Provincial Police Director Col. Dennis Agustin presented the suspects and the seized items before members of media on Friday afternoon and said that the successful operation was just an “opening salvo” for the year 2014. “This year we are going to intensify our operations against illegal drugs and loose firearms,” Agustin said during an interview. “We are going to double our efforts as the problem on illegal drugs is already at an alarming level as far as the police are concerned.”

Meanwhile, Police Superintendent Joie Pacito Yape, head of the Bohol Provincial Police Office's (BPPO) Police Community Relations (PCR) and BPPO information officer, has recommended the efforts of the CIDG led by Police Chief Inspector Carlos Lictag, PPSC-SWAT led by Police Chief Inspector Roland Lavisto and Ubay Police Station led by Ubay chief of police George Salcedo Caña, who were all conducting massive surveillance on the suspects several weeks before last Friday's joint operation. Reechoing the Agustin's pronouncements, Yape in an interview has called on members of the Boholano community to cooperate with the police in the fight against illegal drugs by sharing information with the authorities. Meanwhile, Lavisto in a separate interview said that Echeng Bullecer, another drug suspect, who two days before he was gunned down in September last year had revealed a list of drug personalities and professional assassins in Bohol, and Inday Bono's name was found in Bullecer's list. Lavisto said that Inday Bono's has been suspected as a “liquidation expert” targeting small-time drug pushers who have problems on “remittance” (turning over shabu cash sale to their drug bosses).

Lavisto hinted Ubay town, where just a week ago two more drug suspects, Rhey Perpie Espera, 24, and Cherinito Bongato, were arrested by the same police team in possession of 103 packs of shabu, as a rising hub of illegal drugs in the province. According to Inday Bono, during a chance interview, traders are transporting drugs from Cebu sources (particularly Pasil) via the Cebu-Getafe boat route. Inday Bono, who claimed the weapons seized from his possession were pawned to him by their original owners, said that their shipment of illegal drugs was not always detected by the authorities because they are transporting it at small-scale. Asked whether a shabu laboratory is already in existence in Bohol, Lavisto cannot yet give a categorical answer, but he said that their monitoring is centered on this angle. The police captain cannot also confirm whether there are politicians in the local government units (LGUs) who are involved in the illegal drug business here.

But according to Agustin, he has received intelligence reports indicating that some members of the police assigned in Bohol are linked to illegal drugs as “protectors.” “We will cleanse our ranks in the coming weeks or months,” Agustin said. Agustin has praised the administration of Gov. Edgar M. Chatto whom he considers as a strong partner in the battle against illegal drugs in Bohol. Provincial Administrator Alfonso “Ae” Damalerio II, on the other hand, has said that Bohol's combat against illegal drugs would not be sidetracked by the ongoing rehabilitation projects undertaken by the province in the aftermath of the Oct. 15 tremor that hit Bohol last year.