ILOILO City – “Dahil sa sunod-sunod na operations nakakuha tayo ng malaking halaga, we expect scarcity of (shabu) supply,” said Director Alex Tablate of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) Region 6.
This drop in supply should make the cost of methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu prohibitive, added Tablate.
The street value of shabu per gram is seen to jump from P6,800 to P8,000 or more.
On March 4, suspect Vicente Sepuesca of Barangay Sum-ag, Bacolod City was caught with five kilos of suspected shabu valued at P34 million in Barangay Old Poblacion, Escalante City, Negros Occidental.
This was so far the largest confiscation of shabu in Western Visayas since the seizure of P20.4-million worth of shabu at the BREDCO Port in Bacolod City by joint operatives of PDEA, Philippine Coast Guard, and the Bacolod City Police Office in January this year.
Sepuesca originated from Cebu province, according to PDEA-Negros Occidental operative
“Agent Bamboo”.
But PDEA believed the shabu was sourced from Metro Manila.
On March 9 in Valenzuela, Metro Manila, 160 kilos of shabu were seized from Chinese national Tianzhu Lyu and suspected accomplice Meliza Villanueva of Concepcion, Tarlac. It was worth around P1.1 billion.
“Magka pareho ng packing ang nakuha from Sepuesca and from Lyu and Villanueva. So baka galing Valenzuela ang droga,” Tablate said.
Then just this Saturday, March 12, an estimated P3.3 million worth of suspected shabu was confiscated in a buy-bust operation in Purok Kahirup, Barangay Singcang-Airport, Bacolod City.
Police also arrested a suspect – 30-year-old Joey Piestaño of the said barangay.
Piestaño was jailed in 2018 for illegal drugs but was released in 2019 thru a plea bargaining agreement, according to Police Major Joery Puerto, Police Station 8 commander.
The suspected shabu was found in what was passed off as a Chinese tea bag, he revealed.
Piestaño faces a charge for violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002./PN
