BACOLOD City – The supply of illegal drugs here has decreased recently based on the dwindling volume of shabu seized by the Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO) in various operations.
Colonel Henry Biñas, city police director, said compared to the past few months, the market value of illegal drugs recovered by the operatives is no longer that much in recent weeks.
“Before, we were able to confiscate millions worth of shabu, now the biggest is (Barangay) Banago, P300,000. Our police stations seize drugs only in sachets,” Biñas said in a press briefing at the BCPO headquarters on Tuesday.
He said the feedback from the barangays showed illegal drugs supply has really decreased.
This has been observed especially in drug-affected villages of Banago, 1, 2 and 3, which have been the focus of intensified “tokhang” operations, resulting in the surrender of several drug personalities.
“I requested the village chiefs to help us clear their barangays, which are the center of illegal drug transactions,” Biñas said.
Aside from these areas, the city police is also zeroing in on Barangay Vista Alegre, where the city government relocation sites are located, since several drug suspects had been arrested in previous buy-bust operations in the area.
“It’s unlike before when we have monitored the entry of a kilo or half kilo of shabu for distribution. We hope to sustain this in our focused barangays. Our operatives continue to monitor these illegal drug activities,” Biñas said.
“But then again, they (distributors) could still be waiting (for the supply) because the source is not in Bacolod,” he added.
Biñas now supervises the operations of the City Drug Enforcement Unit (CDEU), previously headed by Lieutenant Colonel Jovie Espenido.
At 12:35 p.m. on Tuesday, operatives of CDEU arrested Zander Son Lumbo, a newly-identified drug personality, in a buy-bust at Bakyas, Barangay Mansilingan.
The suspect yielded some three grams of shabu with an estimated market value of PHP30,000.
On Feb. 14, the CDEU personnel arrested high-value individual Rogelio Panonce, 41, in Purok Mahimulaton, Barangay Banago. Operatives seized from the suspect P360,000 worth of shabu.
The Bacolod police last year recovered P73 million worth of illegal drugs from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31. (With a report from PNA/PN)
