ILOILO – A suspected drug den operating in Barangay Tinocuan, Dingle, Iloilo was dismantled on Saturday, August 23, leading to the arrest of five individuals and the recovery of more than P5 million worth of suspected shabu, along with firearms and a grenade.
The Iloilo Police Provincial Office’s (IPPO) Provincial Drug Enforcement Unit (PDEU) launched the buy-bust operation at around 1:40 p.m. after a month-long surveillance on two main suspects identified as aliases “Bonbon,” 39, and his uncle “Bentot,” 55, both residents of Tinocuan. Arrested alongside them were their relative aliases “Jerry” or “Alog,” 44, from Bulacan; “John,” 31, of Tinocuan; and “Francis,” 30, of Barangay Dawis, Dingle.
Confiscated from the group were 12 plastic sachets of suspected shabu weighing more than 740 grams with an estimated value of P5,032,000. Police also recovered a homemade 12-gauge shotgun, a homemade AR15-9mm rifle, a suspected airsoft rifle, and an M67 fragmentation grenade.
According to PDEU chief Major Dadje Delima, the suspects disguised their house as a normal residence, but a hut behind the property was being used for drug transactions and sessions. “The place was being operated as a drug den, where transactions happened out of sight,” Delima said.
He added that the group had an organized system in which payments passed through Bentot before reaching Bonbon, who would then release the illegal drugs, while other members acted as lookouts.
Police Brigadier General Josefino D. Ligan, director of Police Regional Office 6 (PRO-6), commended the units involved.
“This operation clearly proves that our personnel on the ground remain relentless in pursuing individuals involved in the illegal drug trade. To the people of Western Visayas, rest assured that we will never stop hunting them down in order to secure a safer and more progressive future for the next generations,” he said.
Authorities said the suspects sourced their supply from Iloilo City and Antique. They are now detained at the Dingle Municipal Police Station and face charges for violations of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, as well as illegal possession of firearms, ammunition, and explosives./PN
