Two teams of the PNP’s Anti-Illegal Drug Special Operations Task Force raided two homes in Virac last Saturday, confiscating a sizable number of shabu sachets and arresting a man and his wife.

The two teams, accompanied by Concepcion barangay officials and Radyo ng Bayan announcer Jo Buena, swooped down on the area at 6:45 A.M. of April 8 and searched two houses on the basis of a warrant issued by Regional Trial Court Branch 43 Judge-designate Jaime E. Contreras.

One team led by provincial AIDSOFT commander and Virac PNP officer-in-charge Supt. Gil Francis Tria combed the house of one Mardrake dela Cruz Tacorda but found no evidence of methamphetamine hydrochloride.

The other team led by Insp. Samuel Villamer raided the house occupied by Nemia Urbano Posada, Evelyn Urbano Posada, Francisco Urbano Posada and his wife, Jocelyn Santillano Posada. In the presence of Francisco Posada and his wife, the police team found 42 heat-sealed plastic sachets of different sizes containing white crystalline substance believes to be shabu.

They also seized an improvised tooter, two candles, nine pieces of aluminum foil, two empty plastic sachets and other materials. The successful raid so elated the PNP provincial leadership that the couple were escorted to Legazpi City for presentation before PNP Regional Director Victor Boco, Jr.

In 2005, barangay Concepcion, tagged as drug-infested in previous years, was declared as having been "cleared" due to the arrest of "target personalities." In the same year, the Catanduanes PNP apprehended 12 persons for drug pushing and possession, including alleged top drug lord Joel Qua. The case against Qua, however, is in danger of being quashed after Justice Secretary Raul Gonzales recommended its dismissal when two barangay officials who were present during the September 2005 raid claimed that the 17-gram shabu evidence against the accused was planted by the raiding team.