ILOILO City – Raw information reached the Police Regional Office 6 (PRO-6) that remnants of the Odicta and Prevendido drug groups operating here and in Iloilo province are joining forces.
Not leaving anything to chance, Police Brigadier General Rene Pamuspusan, regional police director, alerted all police units.
“These groups are tapping people not familiar to the police. We’ve noticed that most of the recent arrests were newly identified drug personalities,” said Police Lieutenant Colonel Joem Malong, PRO-6 spokesperson.
Panay News sources said the groups would be stepping up their operation this December and next month when Iloilo City stages the Dinagyang Festival.
Police units were ordered to enhance their barangay intelligence network as key to frustrate the drug traffickers.
Malong said the PRO-6 is also not discounting the possibility that drug traffickers would shift to robbery.
“Our non-stop operations are hurting them. But they need to survive so they may resort to other illegal activities. Our police have a security plan for them,” said Malong.
The Odicta and Prevendido drug groups were greatly decimated following the deaths of their leaders.
Melvin “Boyet” Odicta Sr. was shot to death by armed men in Malay, Aklan in August 2016.
Richard “Buang” Prevendido, on the other hand, died in a shootout with policemen in Barangay Balabago, Jaro district here on September 2017.
Several of their members were subsequently arrested but others remained elusive.
The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) had said the supply of illegal drugs in Iloilo significantly dropped following the deaths of Odicta and Prevendido.
“Please help us in our campaign. Give us information. PDEA and the police could not stop drug trafficking without the help of the community,” said Director Alex Tablate.
Tablate expressed concern that demand for illegal drugs, particularly party drugs, could rise this holiday season and next month when Iloilo City stages the Dinagyang Festival.
Party drugs, also called club drugs or rave drugs, are recreational drugs that have stimulating properties. Regular use can lead to the user craving more of the drug, resulting to addiction.
Of particular concern to the PDEA are the seaports where drug traffickers are known to slip their stocks.
“We will be utilizing 10 K-9 dogs aside from partnering with the police,” said Tablate.
“K-9” (a homophone of “canine”) are dogs trained to assist law enforcers detect contrabands such as illegal drugs and explosives.
“We need to double our efforts in monitoring the entry of illegal drugs. We expect a high demand for them this Christmas season when most people have money,” said Tablate./PN
