By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

Two men were arrested by operatives from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and Dumaguete City Police Station following a Sunday afternoon buy-bust operation inside a hotel in the city’s Barangay 3.

Police identified the suspects as 28-year-old Nestor Joseph Cornelio Arnaiz, a resident of Barangay Pasil, Tanjay in Negros Oriental; and 30-year-old Olivar Palad Eparwa, a resident of Barangay Tubtubon, Sibulan also in the said province.

Dumaguete City police said both suspects are considered newly-identified street-level drug targets and appear on a drugs watchlist.

They added, one of the suspects was arrested in an earlier buy-bust but was acquitted last year.

Police and PDEA agents recovered five medium-sized and one big sachet of suspected shabu, and suspected drug money amounting to P4,920.

Both Arnaiz and Eparwa face drug-related charges and are presently detained at the Dumaguete City Police Station./DGB, WDJ