ILOILO City – Authorities kicked off their antidrug campaign this year with yesterday’s seizure of P8 million worth of suspected methamphetamine hydrochloride (shabu) in Barangay San Antonio, Oton, Iloilo.
A 30-year-old woman was arrested by operatives of the Iloilo Police Provincial Office’s (IPPO) Provincial Drug Enforcement Unit, Regional Drug Enforcement Unit (RDEU) and the police force of Oton.
Mary Joy Villarina was a resident of Deca Homes Subdivision in Barangay Pandac, Pavia, Iloilo and a newly identified suspect.
She did not know she was being subjected to a buy-bust operation at around 2 a.m. An undercover police officer transacted from Villarina – who was onboard a motorcycle – P10,000 worth of shabu.
According to Police Colonel Gilbert Gorero, provincial police director, the shabu may have been sourced from Negros Occidental.
Prior to Villarina’s arrest, her suspected “down lines” in the persons of Jimbee Polo, 32, of Barangay San Antonio, Oton and Efren Salinas, 55, of Barangay Lambuyao, Oton were arrested shortly after midnight in the town’s Barangay Trapeche.
The two yielded 15 sachets of shabu with street value of P15,000. The P6,200 marked money was also seized.
Gorero said his men also confiscated the suspects’ cellular phones used for a supposed drug deal with Villarina, leading to the latter’s arrest.
“This is just the beginning of our drug operations,” Gorero said.
Western Visayas’ top cop Police Brigadier General Rolando Miranda lauded his men for the successful operation
He directed commanders of all police units across the region to sustain and strengthen their campaign against illegal drugs./PN
