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BY MAE SINGUAY
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Thursday, March 2, 2017
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BACOLOD City – Police in Negros Island Region are ready to reengage in the campaign against illegal drugs.
In fact, the Police Regional Office 18 has formed new antidrug units for the officers’ return to the “drug war.”
They are just waiting for an official directive from the Philippine National Police (PNP) national headquarters in Camp Crame, said Chief Superintendent Renato Gumban, regional police director.
PNP operations against illegal drugs may return, Director General Ronald Dela Rosa said more than a month after suspending them in light of some officers’ alleged involvement in the abduction and murder of a foreign businessman.
Gumban said police operations this time will be fully coordinated with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), the new lead law enforcement unit in the government’s war on drugs.
The new antidrug units will comprise police officers with no record of corruption, he said.
“Since the AIDG (Anti-Illegal Drugs Group) was dissolved, their members will no longer be allowed to join the newly formed antidrug units,” said Gumban.
The new units are the Regional Drug Enforcement Group 18, the City Drug Enforcement Units and the Provincial Drug Enforcement Units — all under the direct control of the regional police director.
Gumban claimed there was a spike in the sale and use of drugs in Negros during the suspension of police antidrug operations.
“One report I received said a tricycle driver brought several sachets of shabu, which children picked up and delivered to the buyer,” he said. “I told the RSOG (Regional Special Operations Group) to relay the information to the PDEA, but with the time gap, it will be too late for the agency to [respond].”
Shabu from Cebu enters Negros via San Carlos City and Dumaguete City, and those from Iloilo City or Dumangas town in Iloilo province via Bacolod City, Gumban said, citing “latest” intelligence reports.
All of these drugs are from Mindanao, Gumban said, pitching the possibility of a “mega shabu laboratory” in the southern major island, based on claims from Ricky Serenio, the No. 1 drug suspect in Negros./PN
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