Over P150M shabu seized in Central Visayas this year
STEPPED-UP anti-drug campaign by agents of the Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 in Central Visayas so far this year has resulted in the seizure of over P150 million worth of shabu and the arrest of more than a dozen “high-value targets” in the region, the Journal Group learned yesterday.
“This is part of our continuing effort to account for all top drug targets in Central Visayas thru intelligence-driven operations with the support of the community,” said PRO7 director, Brigadier General Anthony A. Aberin.
Yesterday, the PRO7 director announced the arrest of another top drug trafficker in Central Visayas during an anti-narcotics operation in Cebu City which led in the seizure of 1.3 kilograms of shabu valued at P8.840 million.
The suspect, identified as Manuel Ace Delgado Causing alias “Tevan,” is a 21-year-old jobless resident of Upper Galilee in Barangay Duljo Fatima who has been listed as a “high-value individual” by the PRO7 Regional Drug Enforcement Unit (RDEU) prior to his arrest, the official said.
In a report to Philippine National Police chief, General Benjamin C. Acorda Jr., the PRO7 director said that the suspect was arrested in a buy-bust operation in Sitio Campar, Bgy. Poblacion Pardo in Cebu City, past noon Friday.
Undercover officers from the PRO7 RDEU, in coordination with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, conducted the “intelligence-driven” sting following weeks of surveillance.
“We have accounted for another major drug target in Central Visayas amid our stepped-up campaign against illegal drug trafficking in the region on orders of Gen. Acorda and Department of Interior and Local Government Secretary Benjamin C. Abalos Jr.,” Aberin told the Journal Group.
He said that 13 pieces of heat-sealed plastic packets each containing 100 grams of the so-called “poor man’s cocaine” were recovered from the suspect, along with the buy-bust money topped by a marked P1,000 bill.
Also seized from the suspect were two Guanyinwang Chinese tea pack and a backpack used by the suspect to conceal the drugs.
The suspect is now undergoing questioning at the RDEU 7 office, while the recovered pieces of drug evidence were submitted to the Regional Forensic Unit 7 for qualitative and quantitative examination and safekeeping.
Aberin said that the suspect will be facing non-bailable charges for sale and possession of prohibited drugs as stated under Republic Act No. 9165, the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.
“My men are still conducting follow-up operations to identify and arrest the main source of the illegal drugs recovered from the suspect,” said the PRO7 director.
