BACOLID City – City and municipal police stations in this province have formed teams tasked only to operate against illegal drug activities during the quarantine period.
Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office director, Colonel Romeo Baleros, said the antidrug officers have been deployed to ensure that operations against drug personalities will continue amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
“These personnel are solely dedicated to antidrug operations. We did not choose them to man the quarantine control points,” Baleros said.
Each police station in Negros Occidental has a team of seven antidrug personnel, while the provincial headquarters has 12 operatives.
According to Baleros, stations under NOCPPO formed these dedicated antidrug teams, knowing that drug suspects would take advantage of the health crisis to peddle their goods.
“We are not losing our grip on these drug personalities to prevent them from continuing their operations,” Baleros said.
Those who received government cash aid have money to spare for the illegal drug trade, he added.
In Silay City, policemen launched several drug operations in the recent weeks.
A buy-bust there on May 4 led to the arrest of three suspects who yielded suspected shabu valued at around P105,000.
On April 26, three suspects, too, were caught in separate buy-busts in the same city. They were found in possession of P90,000, P120,000 and P75,000 worth of suspected illegal drugs, respectively.
“In Silay, we have reports of arrest almost every day or every two days. We also have arrests in the cities of Kabankalan, San Carlos, La Carlota, and Himamaylan. We don’t set aside our antidrug operations,” Baleros said.
The police director appealed anew to Negrenses to support the police in the campaign against illegal drugs since they don’t have enough personnel to guard and monitor all drug-related activities.
“We need the support of barangay officials, concerned citizens, force multipliers, security guards, and the community as a whole. They have knowledge about the drug operations in their respective barangays,” he added.
This province has been placed under general community quarantine on May 16, along with most of the country.(With a report from PNA/PN)
