CEBU CITY— Packs of illegal drugs amounting to P14.1 million were seized from a man who was known in his barangay as a pastor.
Mark Secretaria Duaban, 42, was arrested on Wednesday night by operatives of the Drug Enforcement Unit of the Police Regional Office-Central Visayas.
Found in the suspect’s house in Sitio Black Cat, Barangay Fatima were several packs of suspected shabu weighing at least 75 grams, police said.
Police said the suspect is known to be a pastor in the barangay after he formed a religious group named “Maayong Balita (Good News)” whose members are mostly relatives of the suspect.
Weeks of monitoring conducted by the police showed that the suspect was not just into preaching but was also involved in peddling illegal drugs.
Police said the suspect is a cousin of Rowen “Yawa” Secretaria, a suspected big-time drug pusher who was killed in an anti-illegal drug operation in Bohol province in 2016.
In an interview with reporters, the suspect said the packs of seized illegal drugs were delivered to him by a nine-year-old boy.