BACOLOD City – Five drug trafficking groups operate in Negros Occ. and Bacolod City and they are “priority targets”, according to Police Brigadier General Rene Pamususan, director of the Police Regional Office 6 (PRO-6).
Pamuspusan did not name the five groups but said two of these operating in Negros Occidental have links to drug groups in Region 7 (Central Visayas), and particularly in the adjacent province of Negros Oriental.
“The trafficking of the two groups extends to Region 7. If our men have operations in Negros Occidental, the groups would temporarily move to Central Visayas areas,” said Pamuspusan.
The police director, however, said the five drug groups were not as organized.
They appeared to be splinters of previously bigger drug groups that disintegrated due to incessant antidrug operations of the PRO-6, he said, and because of this, identifying their leaders is a challenge.
“But despite their being small, they continue to thrive,” said Pamuspusan.
In Iloilo city and province, on the other hand, there are no big, organized drug groups anymore after the death of Iloilo City-based drug lords Melvin Odicta Sr. in August 2016 and Richard Prevendido in September 2017, said Pamuspusan.
Prevendido was shot to death in a shootout with policemen in Barangay Balabago, Jaro, Iloilo City.
Odicta, on the other hand, was shot by unidentified armed men in Caticlan, Malay, Aklan.
After Prevendido died, his minion Ernesto Bolivar took over the drug trade in central and northern Iloilo.
Bolivar of Barangay Guinacas, Pototan, Iloilo is now the region’s top drug suspect. A fugitive from justice, he is the respondent in Criminal Case No. 17-8454 for violation of Section 5, Article II of Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.
Pamuspusan said Bolivar’s capture is a priority.
“We don’t know where Bolivar is, that’s why we are coordinating with other regions, baka nasa area nila,” he said./PN
