BACOLOD City – More than P7 million worth of suspected shabu were seized by police in San Carlos City, Negros Occidental.
A buy-bust operation that led to the recovery also resulted in the arrest of Hanjie Alquiza, 37, and Roden Zaraga, 41.
The operation was conducted in Barangay Punao, San Carlos City, where the suspects lived, at around 12:55 a.m. on Thursday.
Police estimated the cost of the seized substance – weighing some 639.5 grams – at P7,674,000.
A weighing scale, P2,000 cash (including the buy-bust money), and “bogus money” worth P19,500 were seized from the suspects, police said.
Alquiza and Zaraga were detained at the San Carlos City police station.
They face charges for violation of Republic Act 9165, or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.
A drug enforcement team of the San Carlos City police station and agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) Region 6 staged the operation.
Alquiza was incarcerated for an illegal drug charge two years ago and released in November, investigation showed.
Police were looking into the suspects’ claim that they get their illegal drug supply from Cebu.
Huge volumes of shabu have been seized in the northern Negros city in the past months.
The largest haul was in August – worth about P72 million.
Operatives of the PDEA’s Region 6 and Region 7 offices and the San Carlos City police recovered the substance during an entrapment in Barangay Palampas.
Weighing about 6 kilograms, the suspected shabu were placed in six transparent plastic packs wrapped in paper and sealed with packing tape. (With a report from Philippine News Agency/PN)
