ILOILO City – New illegal drug groups have mushroomed across Western Visayas while those that took a break from illegal activities since 2016 appeared to have resumed their operations, according to the Police Regional Office 6 (PRO-6).
Intelligence reports reaching the PRO-6 counted 10 active drug groups now operating in the region, according to Superintendent Joem Malong, spokesperson of the regional police office.
“The PRO-6 is closely coordinating with its police units to get more information about these groups,” said Malong yesterday.
The Philippine National Police launched its war on drugs in July 2016. PRO-6’s Regional Drug Enforcement Unit (RDEU) chief Senior Inspector Kennith Bermejo said they were zeroing in on groups operating in the provinces of Iloilo, Capiz and Negros Occidental, and Bacolod City.
He declined to identify the groups so as not to jeopardize antidrug operations. He, however, confirmed that remnants of the group of slain drug lord Richard Prevendido of Barangay Bakhaw, Mandurriao, Iloilo City have regrouped.
“Their operation has become region-wide. We have identified some of them already,” he told Panay News yesterday.
The sale of shabu appeared to have picked up once again, the PRO-6 said early this month. It believed that part of the missing P6.8-billion shabu in Cavite could have found its way to the region, citing a drop in the prohibited substance’s price.
In recent antidrug operations, the 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 Bermejo.
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.
PDEA national chief Aaron Aquino said the drugs that slipped past the Manila port in August were now being sold in the streets./PN
