BY RUBY SILUBRICO & JEN BAYLON
ILOILO City – More or less 770 grams of shabu valued at P5.236 million were seized from three suspects tagged by police as high-value individuals during separate buy-bust operations in the city and province of Iloilo.
A suspected “bodegero” of a drug group was arrested after yielding 600 grams of shabu worth P4,080,000 in Barangay Poblacion Delgado, Calinog, Iloilo.
Detained at the Calinog Police Station was 30-year-old Joemarie Celestial of the same barangay.
According to police chief Major Myles Dieron, Celestial sold P25,000 worth of shabu to a police poseur buyer at about 8:30 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 12.
Celestial has a Manila-based group, and their source was New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City, added Dieron.
“He is a stockman or bodegero here, waiting for instructions from his boss in Manila. He drops large quantities of drugs and can easily dispose of them because the items already have owners,” Dieron told Panay News.
It took two months of validation and monitoring before the operation, he added.
“We are lucky that we immediately arrested him because he was about to dispose of his stocks,” Dieron also said.
Meanwhile, alias “Gang-gang” and alias “Bayklang” were arrested by the joint elements of the City Drug Enforcement Unit and Iloilo City Police Station 1 in Barangay Rizal Pala Pala I, City Proper, Iloilo City at 12:25 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 13.
The two yielded more or less 170 grams of shabu, with a standard value of P1,156,000.
The arrested persons face charges for violation of Republic Act 9165 (the Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002).
On the other hand, Police Regional Office 6 director Brigadier General Sidney Villaflor congratulated his men.
“It is yet another big accomplishment. Let us all work together to win the fight against illegal drugs,” said Villaflor./PN
