ILOILO City – A drop in the price of shabu in Western Visayas may mean that part of the missing P6.8-billion shabu in Cavite may have found its way to the region, according to the Police Regional Office 6 (PRO-6).
In recent antidrug operations, PRO-6’s Regional Drug Enforcement Unit (RDEU) noticed the price of shabu to have dipped.
“Since last year, five grams of shabu cost between P30,000 to P35,000. These past few weeks, this could be bought for P25,000,” said Senior Inspector Kennith Bermejo, RDEU chief.
In August, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) found four magnetic lifters in a warehouse in General Mariano Alvarez, Cavite and believed these were used to conceal shabu. Two trained dogs confirmed they detected traces of illegal drugs in the empty magnetic lifters.
At the time the empty magnetic lifters in Cavite were discovered, the PDEA and Bureau of Customs had just intercepted 500 kilos of shabu concealed in two other magnetic lifters at the Manila International Container Port.
Bermejo believed the shabu price drop in the region had something to do with the missing shabu in the Cavite lifters.
Two weeks ago, PDEA national chief Aaron Aquino claimed that the drugs that slipped past the Manila port in August were now being sold in the streets.
A recent RDEU operation in Mandurriao district that led to the arrest of a medical technologist backed this up, said Bermejo. Suspect Jonathan Lobriza, 32, of Barangay Burgos, La Paz district sold five grams of shabu to an RDEU asset for P25,000.
Bermejo said Lobriza was a high-value-target. He described the suspect as a “store keeper” for selling huge volumes of shabu.
The suspect himself confirmed to the RDEU that the price of shabu had fallen, said Bermejo./PN
