BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL G. BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – Drug peddlers are stocking up on shabu in the run-up to the MassKara Festival.
Two successive operations of the Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO) on Sunday night and late Monday night led to the confiscation of P5.7-million worth of shabu.
On Monday night, BCPO’s City Drug Enforcement Unit (CDEU) arrested 21-year-old Jeboy James Poneles in a buy-bust operation. Cops seized an estimated P1,400,800 of suspected shabu.
On Sunday night, anti-drug operatives from BCPO’s Police Station 8 arrested Ahzer Villarosa in the city’s Barangay Pahanocoy. Shabu valued at P4,318,000 was recovered.
BCPO director Police Colonel Thomas Martir said they have reason to believe that the high-value drug confiscations were due to rising demand for shabu spurred by the ongoing rhum festival as well as the drug traffickers’ stocking up in preparation for the MassKara Festival in October.
Martir also suspects that part of the P2.7-billion shabu seized last week in Pangasinan and La Union was intended for Bacolod City, pointing out information from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) that shabu seized in those operations was supposed to be shipped first to Central Visayas.
Three Negrenses were also arrested in the said PDEA operation in Luzon last week.
As ordered by Bacolod City’s Mayor Alfredo “Albee” Benitez, Martir directed all police stations in the city to intensify their intelligence monitoring and stop to the entry of shabu into the city.
The BCPO is coordinating with PDEA, the Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office (NOCPPO), the Philippine Coast Guard, and the Philippine National Police (PNP) Maritime Group to catch drug smugglers in the BREDCO and Banago seaports.
Earlier, Benitez sought additional K9 units in the city’s ports in order to boost surveillance and monitoring.
During the 2019 MassKara Festival, the BCPO seized almost P2.6 million worth of shabu which were later traced to have originated from Mindanao.
In recent months, PDEA reported that most of the illegal drugs entering Bacolod City and Negros Occidental came from Luzon./PN
