P224M shabu seized in Bicol

29 May 2020, 08:23 by Alfred P. Dalizon

OVER P224 million worth of shabu and other prohibited drugs have been seized by agents of the Police Regional Office 5 as a result of its massive anti-narcotics crackdown in the region so far this year, PRO5 director, Brigadier General Anthony S. Alcañeses announced yesterday.

“Apart from accounting for a huge volume of drugs, we have also sent to jail dozens of known drug personalities specifically ‘high-value targets’ in Bicol since last January,” the official told the Journal Group.

From January to March this year, PRO5 agents conducted 278 anti-narcotics operations in the region in coordination with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency leading in the arrest of 31 HVTs or persons included in the list of the Philippine National Police Directorate for Intelligence and the PDEA and 261 newly-identified drug targets.

Those operations led in the confiscation of some 22.2 kilograms of the so-called ‘poor man’s cocaine’ worth around P118 million and over P6,000 worth of dried marijuana leaves. A total of 278 cases for violation of RA 9165 were also filed against the arrested suspects.

Alcañeses said that among their major accomplishments this year is the killing of Dirimpasan Pangandang Unte alias ‘Bong,’ the no. 1 drug target of the Police Regional Office 4-A headed by Brig. Gen. Vicente D. Danao Jr.

The suspect was killed in an encounter with PRO5 agents during a buy-bust operation along the Almeda Highway in Barangay Concepcion Grande in Naga City last February 25.

Recovered from the slain HVT were four heat-sealed plastic sachets containing nearly 108 grams of shabu worth P537,000, a plastic packet containing dried marijuana leaves and a chamber-loaded caliber .45 pistol with a magazine containing five live ammunition.

Another is the recovery of 20 kilograms of shabu worth P106 million inside the Matnog Port in Matnog, Sorsogon last January 16. Two drug couriers identified as Irish Yap dela Peña and Jose Lani Rocaza, both residents of Muntinlupa City were arrested during the sting.