BACOLOD, Philippines – Authorities arrested five people and seized shabu (meth) valued at nearly P4 million hours apart from each other on Saturday and Sunday, August 10 and 11, signaling the start of a fresh crackdown on the illegal drug trade in Bacolod City.
Colonel Joeresty Coronica, Bacolod police director, said they would intensify their anti-drug campaign following the weekend raids in barangays Tangub and Singcang-Airport, and ahead and during the city’s MassKara Festival in October when they expect a surge in illegal drug activities.
The separate weekend raids by the police and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), resulted in a more than P3.7-million shabu catch, authorities said on Monday, August 12.
Narcotics agents from the PDEA raided the residence of Marivic Montes alias Mamang, seized an estimated 255 grams of suspected shabu valued at P1.73 million, and arrested the Montes and another suspect, Ray-An Espinosa, in Purok Uno Sisi, Barangay Singcang-Airport, past 2 am on Sunday.
About seven hours earlier, past 7 pm on Saturday, the Bacolod police’s Drug Enforcement Unit arrested alleged members of a local drug syndicate and seized some 300 grams of suspected shabu worth about P2 million during an operation at Lopue’s Square in Barangay Tangub.
Police identified those arrested during the Tangub raid as 32-year-old Jerome Paurillo of Camang-Camang, Isabela, 29-year-old Lloyd Paul Toculan of Zarandin, Valladolid, and 32-year-old Aive Jean Colonia of Nanunga, Hinigaran.
Authorities said the suspects caught in Tangub allegedly belong to a new drug syndicate identified as the Bugalon Group.
Coronica said authorities would file complaints against the suspects for violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.
The local police would step up and sustain the anti-drug campaign in Bacolod similar to what he did when he served as director of the Iloilo City Police Office (ICPO). The campaign, he said, would be “relentless.”
He said the drug trade in Bacolod is more lucrative than in Iloilo City, and the supplies have been coming from Luzon via Cebu, Caticlan in Aklan, and Mindanao via Negros Oriental.
The Bacolod police’s intelligence and narcotics units have also been tasked by Coronica to submit a profile of the various groups involved in the illegal drug trade in the city. – Rappler.com