NEWSFLASH

GAPAN COPS NOT INVOLVED W/DRUGS POLICE CHIEF

Gapan, Nueva Ecija, Feb. 24, 2000 Gapan police chief Supt. Loreto Espineli is blaming the illegal drugs syndicate for a spate of reports linking members of the police force to drugs. The syndicate, he said, is out to demolish the credibility of the police station that has been waging an all-out war against the drug menace.

Espineli reported that his men apprehended 58 drug pushers and users from October 1999 to Feb. 19.

“There’s apparently an effort to destroy the PNP… wipe out its credibility by sowing chaos,” Espineli told The Manila Times.

Gapan is one of the identified centers of illegal drug activities in Nueva Ecija. The others are Cabanatuan City and Muñoz town.

Nueva Ecija provincial police chief Supt. Aurelio Hiteroza said police are tracking down two gun-for-hire groups based in the fourth district and reported to be the biggest drug peddlers in province.

The groups, Hiteroza said, might have shifted to illegal drug trade after being pursued for their killing stint. They are the same groups blamed for the recent assassination of a barangay captain in Jaen and former Jaen mayor Felix Velarde.