ILOILO City – Suspected methamphetamine hydrochloride (shabu) weighing 420 grams and valued at P6.3 million was confiscated in Barangay Ungka II, Pavia, Iloilo late afternoon yesterday.
A mother and son were arrested by operatives of the Iloilo Police Provincial Office’s (IPPO) Provincial Drug Enforcement Unit (PDEU).
Jennifer Nosotros, 42, and 20-year-old son John Rey, a Criminology student, were residents of Barangay Buntatala, Jaro, Iloilo City and classified as high-value targets by the IPPO.
They did not know they were being subjected to a buy-bust operation by the PDEU at around 5:30 p.m. An undercover police officer transacted from them P75,000 worth of shabu.
According to Police Colonel Roland Vilela, police provincial director, the value of the recovered shabu was so far the biggest in Iloilo this year. This was believed to have been sourced from the New Bilibid Prison.
The two arrested suspects were believed to have maintained contact with an imprisoned relative at the national penitentiary, the drug convict Jovan Abantao who was a younger brother of Jennifer.
Vilela described the Nosotroses as “distributors” of shabu in Iloilo province and Iloilo City, but they were very careful to transact only with people known to them.
The suspects were detained at the Pavia police station after the buy-bust. The police were poised to file a complaint against them for violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.
Two hours before the Pavia buy-bust, a nephew of slain drug lord Richard Prevendido was arrested in an antidrug operation of the police in Barangay Burgos, La Paz, Iloilo City.
Hadie Pedrajas, 29, of Barangay Tabuc Suba, Jaro district was taken to the La Paz police station at around 3:30 p.m.
The suspect sold to a police asset a sachet of shabu for P1,200, according to Police Captain Edgar Pagot, La Paz police chief.
Pedrajas was placed under surveillance for over a week prior to yesterday’s buy-bust.
Police recovered four sachets of suspected shabu valued at P4,000 in all, said Pagot.
Pedrajas denied owning the confiscated items.
His uncle Richard Prevendido was shot to death by policemen during a shootout in Barangay Balabago, Jaro on Sept., 1, 2017.
This 2020 the Philippine National Police in Western Visayas aims to get the 105 remaining high-value drug targets it failed to neutralize in 2019. Included in these targets are elected public officials serving as drug protectors.
The No. 1 target remains to be Ernesto Bolivar, a resident of Barangay Guinacas, Pototan, Iloilo who has been in hiding since 2017.
Police units across the region are hunting him down, said Police Lieutenant Colonel Joem Malong, spokesperson of the Police Regional Office 6 (PRO-6).
Of the 105 drug targets, 50 are in Negros Occidental, 32 in Bacolod City, 11 in Iloilo province, four in Capiz, three each in Antique and Iloilo City, and one each in Guimaras and in Aklan./PN
