BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL G. BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – Over P2,142,000 worth of suspected shabu was seized in two separate buy-bust operations of the police here yesterday morning.
Two suspects were also arrested – 31-year-old Ramon Vertudes of Purok Villa Baradas, Barangay Alijis and 21-year-old John Mark Melana of Purok Torre, also in Barangay Alijis.
Anti-drug operatives from Police Station 8 and Special Operations Unit-6 (SOU-6) arrested Vertudes in Barangay Alijis after a poseur buyer bought from him a medium-sized sachet of suspected shabu for P1,000.
A search of the suspect and his home further yielded one knot-tied and 21 sachets of suspected shabu with a combined weight of 205 grams and valued at P1,394,000.
A second operation in Purok Kahirup, Barangay Singcang-Airport resulted in the arrest of Melana.
Police recovered two knot-tied and one big sachet of suspected shabu with a combined weight of 110 grams and valued at P748,000.
Both Vertudes and Melana were taken to Police Station 8.
Charges of violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 would be filed against them.
Just this July 22, an estimated P7.1-million worth of suspected shabu was seized in a buy-bust operation at Seaview Subdivision, Barangay Guinhalaran, Silay City, Negros Occidental.
The police also arrested two suspects – 37-year-old Razel Lyam Gamazan and 40-year-old Lennie Nava, both residents of Barangay Pasong Tamo, Tandang Sora, Quezon City.
The suspects were classified as “high value” by the operating policemen from the Regional Drug Enforcement Unit of the Police Regional Office 6 (PRO-6) and the Silay City police station.
The bulk of illegal drugs entering Negros Occidental came from the National Capital Region (NCR), according to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) last month.
The illegal drugs from NCR entering the province via the BREDCO Port in Bacolod City and the Escalante City Port, according to PDEA-Negros Occidental agent “Jyxyvzcky” in a radio interview.
Those being coursed through the BREDCO port pass by Roxas City from the NCR while those being slipped through the Escalante City Port pass by the Tabuelan Port in Cebu from the NCR, the PDEA agent added./PN
