• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
A five-day anti-drug campaign of the police in Western Visayas that ran from October 7 to 13, led to the apprehension of 107 drug suspects and seizure of P21.9 million worth of suspected shabu in Western Visayas.
Of the arrested suspects, 22 were tagged by the police as high value individual drug personalities, while 85 were categorized as street level individual drug personalities.
The Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office contributed to the arrest of 40 drug suspects, while the Bacolod City Police Office nabbed 16 suspects during the period.
The Iloilo City Police Office apprehended 21 suspects, Iloilo Police Provincial Office – 19, Capiz PPO – 4, Antique and Aklan PPOs – 3 each, while the police in Guimaras accounted for a lone drug suspect.
In terms of volume of confiscation, the Iloilo City Police Office had the largest with about P9,560,000 worth of illegal drugs seized, followed by Bacolod City Police Office with P6,441,000.
The Western VIsayas police seized 3.2 kilos of suspected shabu and 10 grams of suspected dried marijuana leaves, with a total market value of P21,992,000.
The 107 drug suspects are now under police custody and were charged with violation of Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.*