ILOILO City – Street-level drug pushers could give valuable information to the police, according to the Regional Drug Enforcement Unit (RDEU) of the Police Regional Office 6 (PRO-6). Thus operations to arrest them would continue unabated.
The higher goal is to know more about the ring leaders of drug trafficking in the region and hopefully catch them, said Police Lieutenant Colonel Mark Anthony Darroca of the RDEU.
“This is our focus this year. Through the arrest of street-level pushers, makakuha kita other information kun sin-o ila mga boss,” Darroca said.
The RDEU has made it a goal to arrest 50 high-value drug targets this year that it believes are mostly based in Bacolod City and Negros Occidental.
From information extracted from street-level pushers, said Darroca, “Dira kita start mag-study sang ila activities. Tama sa ila ka-elusive.”
The RDEU has determined that drug groups are operating in Bacolod City, San Carlos City and Kabankalan City all in Negros Occidental.
“Wala na kita drug groups in Panay Island. All are individual players. Wala sila grupo. Ga-operate sila nga solo. Three big drug groups in Iloilo were all dismantled,” Darroca said.
He was referring to the Odicta, Prevendido and Bolivar groups.
Drug lord Melvin Odicta Sr. of Iloilo City was shot to death by unidentified gunmen at the jetty port in Caticlan, Malay, Aklan in August 2016. His group’s operation eventually fizzled out.
In September 2017, drug lord Richard Prevendido, also of Iloilo City, was killed in a shootout with policemen in Barangay Balabago, Jaro district. Several of his minions were subsequently arrested.
Last year, top drug suspect Ernesto Bolivar of Pototan, Iloilo died of coronavirus disease while in hiding in Metro Manila.
RDEU operations netted 101 drug personalities in 2021 – part of 1,999 suspects arrested across the region.
“We are calling the public to help us fight drug peddlers,” said Darroca./PN
