ILOILO – A drug group based in northern Iloilo has found a way to elude police detection by stuffing shabu in fishes, according to the Iloilo Police Provincial Office (IPPO).
While the Police Regional Office 6 (PRO-6) believes the illegal drug problem has fizzled out in this province, some drug traffickers remain persistent.
This northern Iloilo group’s source of shabu is Cebu, said Senior Superintendent Marlon Tayaba, provincial police director.
To transport shabu from Cebu to Iloilo, the group would make it appear it is buying fish from there, said Tayaba.
“The shabu can’t easily be detected because it’s concealed deep in the fishes,” he said.
Tayaba said the group’s leader is currently in hiding.
He managed to escape when policemen raided his house last year in Sara, Iloilo, said Tayaba.
It was only last week when PRO-6 director Chief Superintendent John Bulalacao declared Iloilo city and province as “shabulized no more.”
“Most shabulized” was the term that President Rodrigo Duterte used in Aug. 7, 2016 to describe the illegal drug problem in Iloilo without getting specific if he was referring to the city only, the province or both.
According to Bulalacao, “Wala na tayong masyadong concern sa illegal drugs dito sa Iloilo kasi wala na tayong masyadong drug pushers na still operating. If there is any, hindi taga-rito. Kung may roon man, mangilan-ngilan na lang kasi neutralized na ang mga malalaking drug groups dito.”
He was mainly referring to the Odicta and Prevendido drug groups.
Drug lord Melvin “Boyet” Odicta Sr. of Barangay Tanza-Esperanza, Iloilo City was shot to death by unidentified gunmen at the jetty port in Barangay Caticlan, Malay, Aklan on Aug. 29, 2016 three weeks after Duterte’s explosive branding of Iloilo.
Richard “Buang” Prevendido of Barangay Bakhaw, Mandurriao, Iloilo City, on the other hand, was killed policemen in a shootout in Barangay Balabago, Jaro district on Sept. 1, 2017.
According to Bulalacao, the number of illegal drug arrests in Iloilo declined and the volume of shabu dropped.
He said that they are now focusing their operations in Negros Island and Bacolod City because it is easier to transport illegal drugs from Cebu, Negros Oriental and some parts of Mindanao.
“Now our focus are Negros Occidental province and Bacolod City. Based on our intelligence personnel, illegal drugs from Mindanao are being transported to Negros and Bacolod through vessels,” said Bulalacao./PN
