• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
About P2.8 million worth of suspected shabu was seized by authorities from two arrested drug suspects, during a buy bust operation on Thursday at South Circumferential Road, in Barangay Tangub, Bacolod City.
The joint operations of the operatives of Regional Drug Enforcement Unit 6, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, and Police Station 8 led to the arrest of a couple categorized as High Value Individuals, identified only through their aliases, Richard and Perper.
Confiscated were more or less 420 grams of suspected shabu with a standard drug price of P2,856,000, among other items.
The Police Regional Office 6 reported that the two-day police operations on May 14 and 15, against illegal drugs in Western Visayas, also resulted in the seizure of about 813 grams of suspected ‘shabu’, with an estimated market value of P 5.5 million and 20 kilos of marijuana valued at P2.4 million.
It also resulted in the arrest of 16 illegal drug peddlers, regional police spokesman PLt. Col. Arnel Solis said.
Of the 16 arrests, six were tagged as high-value individuals (HVIs), and 10 were classified as street-level individuals.
The 20 kilos of marijuana was recovered by the police during a raid at a marijuana plantation in Brgy. Codcod, San Carlos City, on May 14.
Brig. Gen. Jack Wanky, regional director of Police Regional Office-Western Visayas (PRO-6), said their operations against illegal drugs campaign will intensify day by day.
“We should not be content with this apprehension. This should serve as an inspiration to our operatives. We should sustain this. We cannot surrender to them,” Wanky said in an interview with reporters on Friday at Camp Alfredo Montelibano Sr. in Bacolod City.*