APPARENTLY desperate over his incarceration, suspected drug pusher Vicente San Buenaventura told police investigators that at least three members of the Naga police are themselves hooked into illegal drugs.

The revelation prompted Naga City Police Chief, P /Supt. Anacleto Limbo, to dig deeper into the matter.

Last Tuesday, July 27, media reports said that the three policemen whose names had been withheld pending full investigation have been temporarily frozen from their tour of duty.

Drug tests were reportedly conducted on each of suspected policemen as an initial step to ferret out the truth about the suspected drug pusher’s allegation.

San Buenaventura, 49, a varsity player in a local university basketball team during his younger days was arrested red-handed by the Naga City Drug Enforcement Unit (CDEU) during a buy-bust operation inside a hotel room last July 21, 2004.

For a petty sum of P200, a poseur-buyer was able to procure 0.1 gram of shabu from San Buenaventura inside Rm. 506 of the Sampaguita Tourist Inn along Panganiban Avenue, this city.

Upon signal, anti-drug agents led by SPO3 Julio A. Tuason, chief of the CDEU, quickly pounced on the suspect who yielded 0.4 grams more in the ensuing search.

San Buenaventura claimed he was not a pusher but a user as in fact he had “jam sessions” with the three policemen whose names he withheld pending investigation of the case.

According to Tuason, the suspect has been under surveillance for the past 3 months. Investigators said San Buenaventura has been suspected of peddling illegal drugs to downtown prostitutes and guest relations officers (GRO).

San Buenaventura’s confession about the three policemen did not in any way lighten the case filed against him, an investigator claimed.

Drug-pushing is a serious violation of R.A. 9165, otherwise known as the Dangerous Drugs Law, which is a non-bailable offense.