BY GILBERT P. BAYORAN
A series of buy-bust operations in Negros Occidental and highly urbanized Bacolod City on July 22 and 23 yielded more than P7.4 million worth of illegal drugs, following the apprehensions of two women drug couriers and four suspected drug peddlers.
The bulk of confiscated shabu was recovered by operatives of the Regional Drug Enforcement Unit of Police Regional Office 6 led by its officer-in-charge, PLt. Col. Antonio Benitez, during a buy operation on July 22, at Seaview Subdivision in Brgy. Guinhalaran, Silay City, that yielded more than a kilo of suspected shabu.
The confiscated shabu has a market value of P7.1 million, according to the police.
The buy bust operation conducted by the Regional Drug Enforcement Unit of the Western Visayas police led by PLt. Con. Antonio Benitez, assisted by the Silay City police force, led to the arrest of two women drug suspects identified as Razel Lyam Gamazan, alias Tomboy, 37 and Lennie Nana, alias Nene, 40, both residents of Tandang Sora, Quezon City.
RDEU 6 initial investigations show that Gamazan and Nava, swerve as drug couriers and have been getting their supply of shabu from Manila, travelling through a roll on roll off vessel from Batangas and Panay to Negros.
Benitez said it took them six months to arrest the two drug suspects, as they were highly mobile while conducting their illegal transactions.
Also recovered from the two drug suspects were P30,000 boodle money, including the P1,000 marked money, P5,700 in cash. The confiscated suspected shabu was concealed in surgical gloves placed inside several plastic packs of Bear Brand milk.
The two women drug suspects have been categorized by the police as High Value Individual (HVI) drug personalities.
An estimated 57 grams of suspected shabu with a market value of P387,600 and P1,000 in marked money were also seized by the police in another buy bust operation on July 23 at Purok Sigay in Brgy.2, Bacolod City, according to deputy police spokesperson, PLt. Liberty Indiape.
Another buy-bust operation in Brgy. 1 poblacion, La Carlota City, Negros Occidental, on July22 also led to the arrest of a drug suspect identified by the police as Rey Tortosa, yielding about 56 grams of suspected shabu with a market value of P380,800.
Two other drug suspects, who were separately arrested in Escalante City and Calatrava, were Archivald Artajo and Felipe Pineda, also yielded suspected shabu worth P8,000, and a .357 caliber revolver with nine ammunition, police said.*
