By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga
BACOLOD City – Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office (NOCPPO) director Police Colonel Leo Pamittan has ordered the major ports of entry in the province to be heavily guarded against illegal drug smugglers.
The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) together with the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) intercepted an Iloilo-bound shabu shipment worth P1 million at Bacolod City’s BREDCO port last week.
NOCPPO spokesperson, Police Lieutenant Judesses Catalogo, said Pamittan is especially concerned of the Escalante City and San Carlos City ports which both have histories of illegal drugs slipping through them – the latest being the P34-million drug haul in March of this year at the Escalante City port.
Catalogo said the police chiefs of Escalante City and San Carlos City were told to further step up their coordination with PDEA and PCG’s Coast Guard Station in northern Negros Occidental for the use of the K-9 dogs trained to detect contrabands such as illegal drugs and/or explosives.
The NOCPPO spokesperson said Pamittan even forwarded a suggestion for both city police stations to procure their own drug-sniffing dogs.
The NOCPPO is on high alert; illegal drug smugglers could likely take advantage of the upcoming MassKara Festival in Bacolod City.
The other police units in the province, meanwhile, were ordered anew to intensify their anti-drug operations following attempts to transport illegal drugs in Bacolod City
Last week, PDEA agents and the PCG arrested Marcial Delos Santos Jr. of La Paz, Iloilo City after he allegedly tried to smuggle 150 grams of suspected shabu to an Iloilo-bound roll-on/roll-off vessel.
The suspect – a person with disability – is now detained and facing charges for violation of Republic Act 9165, or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002./PN
