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BY RANIE AZUE
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January 31, 2018
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NegOcc drug, robbery groups plan to merge?
BACOLOD City – The recently arrested suspected drug couriers Jose Alberto Pinaga, 32, and Maebelle Belmonte, 30, had been under police surveillance for some time, according to Superintendent Noel Polines, director of the Silay City Police Office.
A kilo of shabu worth P18 million was recovered from the couple on Sunday – so far the biggest confiscation of shabu in a single antidrug operation in Western Visayas.
Joint elements of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency Region 6, Iloilo Police Provincial Office (IPPO), Philippine Coast Guard, and Negros Occidental Provincial Drug Enforcement Unit staged the operation.
Prior to the arrest, Polines said he already received intelligence information about the couple’s alleged illegal activities in Barangay Mambulac, Silay City, Negros Occidental.
Citing intel, Polines said Pinaga is the “right hand” of the leader of the Divinagracia drug group in Silay City.
Pinaga and Belmonte work for the drug group by transporting illegal drugs from Metro Manila to Negros Occidental via the Batangas-Caticlan-Iloilo route, according to Polines.
The drugs are then delivered to a certain “Neneng” in Bacolod City, he added.
Polines also said the Divinagracia drug group is “trying to connect” with the notorious Cuadra robbery group.
The planned “merger” is supposedly aimed at controlling the illegal drug operation in Negros Occidental, Polines said, citing intel.
Pinaga and Belmonte were caught before they were able to transport illegal drugs from Iloilo to Negros Occidental via a roll on, roll off ship at the seaport of Dumangas, Iloilo.
“But nagbenta pa sila ng droga, this was why we were able to catch them,” said Senior Superintendent Marlon Tayaba, IPPO director.
The police learned the couple’s shipment of shabu from a drug suspect caught last week in Barangay Palampas, San Carlos City, Negros Occidental.
Police recovered on Jan. 23 shabu weighing 593.532 grams valued at around P6.825 million from the 29-year-old Christian Unabia.
Pinaga, Belmonte and Unabia were detained and facing charges for violation of Republic Act 9165, or the Comprehensive Dangerous Durgs Act of 2002./PN
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