BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL G. BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – An estimated P1.3 million worth of suspected shabu was seized in a buy-bust operation by the City Drug Enforcement Unit (CDEU) of the Bacolod City Police Office along Alijis-Taculing Road around 3:15 a.m. yesterday.
Two suspects were also arrested – 28-year-old Abby Araneta of ECC Subdivision in the city’s Barangay Alijis and her 39-year-old driver, Freely Boy Aldas of Purok Cabugwason in neighboring Barangay Mansilingan.
Araneta was a former Sangguniang Kabataan chairperson and presently a second-term barangay council member.
CDEU head, Police Lieutenant Joven Mogato, said they have been monitoring the two suspects since October and tagged them as “high-value” targets.
During their monitoring, the CDEU operatives found out that the drugs originated in Luzon and smuggled into the city before being distributed to other areas of Negros Occidental.
Police recovered two knot-tied and 13 plastic sachets of suspected shabu with a combined weight of 201 grams valued at P1,366,800.
Police also seized the P5,000 in buy-bust money, the suspects’ Toyota Vios sedan, and drug paraphernalia.
Araneta and Aldas, who were detained at the Police Station 7, are facing charges related to Republic Act 9165, or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002./PN
