Drug dealers behind my arrest: ‘ninja cop’

By LITO RULONA
and NITZ ARANCON
Correspondents

A POLICE officer, called a “ninja cop” and linked to the illegal drug trade, has maintained his innocence and alleged that “drug personalities” he arrested were behind his arrest on Friday night.

PO3 Wilson Estenzo Jr., a former member of the Cagayan de Oro City Police Office’s City Anti-Illegal Drugs Task Force (CAIDTF), stopped short of accusing agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) of conspiring with people behind the illegal drug trade in the city of planting evidence so as to put him behind bars.

The 33-year old Estenzo was arrested by PDEA agents at his house in Villa Candida Subdivision in Barangay Bulua on Friday night.

PDEA regional director Adrian Alvariño said Estenzo yielded some 15 grams of suspected shabu estimated to be worth some P50 thousand.

Alvariño alleged that it was a buy-and-bust operation, and that the police officer sold a sachet of suspected shabu to a PDEA “asset” (informer) who posed as a buyer.

He alleged that Estenzo yielded three more sachets of suspected shabu when narcotics agents pounced on the policeman who had a loaded 9mm pistol.

Behind bars, Estenzo strongly denied that he was a drug dealer, and that he was keeping sachets of shabu.

Estenzo said his arrest was illegal and improper.

“Walay kamato-oran ang tanang butang nga ilang gipasangil batok sa   ako. Dili na tinood,” Estenzo said.

He said he was with his wife and child when PDEA agents barged into his house and arrested him.

Estenzo alleged that no buy-and-bust operation took place, and PDEA agents did not have a search warrant.

He said he stepped on the toes of “drug personalities,” and he knew all along that time would come when they would get back at him.

“Mga pamilya kini sa akong mga nadakpan ang nagpa-operate against sa ako,” he said.

Estenzo served as a member of the CAIDTF for eight years until his transfer to the Divisoria police early this year. In February, he went AWOL, said Alvariño.

Alvariño called Estenzo a “ninja cop”–a police officer who goes after drug suspects and yet engages in the illegal drug trade–and as someone who is considered by the PDEA as a “high-value target.”

“The way we see it, he has associates, not necessary police officers, who are high-value targets, too,” Alvariño said.

Alvariño  said  the PDEA first learned of Estenzo’s alleged involvement in the drug trade in February but it took them until Friday to gather strong evidence against the officer.

He said pieces of evidence seized from the suspect, including drug paraphernalia, were sent to a PDEA laboratory for examination, and a case is being prepared to be filed against him tomorrow.