BACOLOD City – Over the past three days, a total of 14 suspects were arrested in various antidrug operations in Negros Occidental and this city, police reports showed.
At about 5:30 p.m. on Nov. 2, Karl Ray Benito, 25, was apprehended in a buy-bust along Rizal Street, Barangay 3 in San Carlos City.
The suspect yielded three sachets of suspected shabu worth P96,000, according to estimates Dangerous Drugs Board estimates.
Benito was arrested after selling the substance to an undercover officer for P1,000.
In the neighboring Calatrava town, Dexter Cano, a “high-value target” allegedly belonging to the Russel Bacus drug group, was arrested in Barangay San Benito at about 4:30 p.m. on Nov. 1. The drug group is notorious in northern Negros.
Cano, 22, yielded three sachets of suspected shabu, valued at P47,000, following a buy-bust conducted by the Calatrava police’s Municipal Drug Enforcement Unit.
The operatives also seized a .45 pistol with two live ammunition from the suspect.
In Kabankalan City, six people were caught in a buy-bust operation on Coloso Street, Barangay 6 at about 8 p.m. on Wednesday.
Police identified the suspects as Jireh Boaquiña, 23; Dennis Michael Berzuela, 25; Michael Pame, 32; Carina Lanang, 33; Joebert de la Cruz, 36; and Rubelyn Abanero, 39.
Boaquiña has availed himself of a plea bargain for an illegal drug case while the other five were considered “street-level targets,” police records showed.
The suspects yielded 12 sachets of suspected shabu worth P360,000. They were detained at the Kabankalan City police station.
Joint operatives of the Regional Drug Enforcement Unit and the Provincial Drug Enforcement Unit, in coordination with the Kabankalan City police, staged the operation.
In Bacolod City, five persons were arrested in a buy-bust conducted by the City Drug Enforcement Unit in Barangay 19 at about 11:30 p.m. on Oct. 31.
One of the suspects, Hervon Aguilar, attempted to fire at the operatives using a .38 revolver, prompting the police to shoot him on the right leg. Aguilar, 40, was taken to a hospital.
The four other suspects were Johnson Salazar, 38, Wennie Casas, 32, Vengie Bernasol, 31, and Verginia Bernasol, 52.
The operatives recovered from them 12 sachets of suspected shabu with an estimated value of P420,000, a P1,000 marked money, and a .38 revolver with six live ammunition, among others.
At about 2:30 a.m. on Nov. 1, Jelly Supresencia was arrested by operatives of Police Station 4 in a buy-bust in Purok Tinago, Barangay 27 here.
The suspect sold a sachet of suspected shabu worth P500 to an undercover officer. Eight more sachets of the same substance valued at P15,000 were seized from him. (PNA)
