PNP-DEG collars 4 HVTs, P5M shabu seized in anti-drug ops
FOUR “high-value targets” (HVTs) for drugs in the country were hauled to jail by the Philippine National Police-Drug Enforcement Group (PNP-DEG) in a series of buy-bust operations this week which led to the confiscation of nearly P5 million worth of shabu, PNP-DEG Director Brigadier General Randy Q. Peralta told the Journal Group on Thursday.
“We have caught four more HVTs in the country who are now undergoing investigation to determine the main source of the big volume of shabu recovered from their possession,” said Brig. Gen. Peralta.
In a report to PNP Officer-in-Charge (PNP-OIC) Lt. Gen. Vicente D. Danao Jr. said that at around 12:15 a.m. Thursday, one of the suspects was arrested in a sting near his residence in Purok Villa Baradas in Bgy. Aljiss in Bacolod City, Negros Occidental.
Peralta said the 31-year-old suspect yielded 205 grams of shabu worth P1.394 million and the buy-bust money during the entrapment operation led by undercover officers from the DEG Special Operations Unit 6.
The PNP-DEG operatives were supported by the Bacolod City Police Station 8 during the operation.
On Tuesday evening, DEG SOU 4-A officers arrested two top drug targets in the Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon) region after they conspired to sell 500 grams of shabu worth P3.4 million to an undercover officer in General Trias City in Cavite.
The official said that suspects alias “Tananda”, a 28-year-old businessman, and his cohort, a driver, are both residents of Bel Aldea Subdivision in Bgy. San Francisco, General Trias City.
The two were arrested during a buy-bust operation conducted outside their residence by members of the DEG SOU 4-A around 9:45 p.m. Tuesday.
Apart from the half-a-kilo of shabu, the suspects were also found to possess the buy-bust money, a mobile phone they used to contact the poseur and assorted identification cards.
Both are now under the custody of the DEG SOU 4-A, facing non-bailable charges for selling and possessing prohibited drugs under Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.
Last Monday, PNP-DEG operatives in Central Visayas also arrested Melvin Arnado alias “Tating”, another HVT in the region, after he sold 500 grams of shabu to an undercover officer along A. Soriano St. in Sitio Ponce 1 in Bgy. Carreta in Cebu City.
Peralta said the suspect, a resident of Sitio Calapukan in Bgy. Carreta was also found in possession of the buy-bust money during the entrapment operation conducted by DEG SOU 7 agents with the support of the Cebu City Police Station 4 and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) Regional Office 7.
