BACOLOD City – Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office (NOCPPO) is targeting the arrest of top drug dealers in the province this year, said its chief Colonel Romeo Baleros.
Baleros vowed to be relentless in the campaign against illegal drugs, saying last year’s accomplishments will serve as their baseline for 2020.
“The arrests we made last year should be surpassed this year,” said the province’s top cop.
According to Baleros, smuggling illegal drugs into the province has also become difficult for drug suppliers and credited the law NOCPPO’s intensified anti-narcotic crackdown.
He said there are currently five drug groups operating in the province—namely, the Divinagracia, Bertucio, Burgos, Mangontawar, and Ramos groups—and, in 2019, authorities confiscated about P30 million worth of illegal drugs.
Negros, according to Baleros has a lengthy coastline and there are commercial and private ports, along with certain coastal areas, that cannot be watched over. But he pointed out that the illegal drugs supply in the province reduced by 60 percent compared to last year.
In response to Bacolod City being labeled as “shabulized,” Baleros said illegal drug activity in the province is not as rampant as before but acknowledged they have yet completely stop the entry of illegal drugs, calling it a “multi-billion business.”/PN
