BACOLOD CITY—Two separate anti-drug operations in the cities of Bacolod and San Carlos in Negros Occidental yielded a total of P73.44 million worth of suspected “shabu” (methamphetamine hydrochloride), police said Wednesday.
The operations come on the heels of another huge shipment of shabu worth more than P4 billion intercepted by the Bureau of Customs at the Manila International Container Port on Tuesday.
In the northern city of San Carlos, an estimated P72 million worth of suspected shabu was seized in an entrapment operation conducted by joint operatives of Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency Regions 6 (Western Visayas) and 7 (Central Visayas), and the San Carlos City police in Barangay Palampas around 12:30 a.m. on Wednesday, a report of the Negros Occidental police showed.
All three suspects, identified as Armando Paraquelles, Josephine Paraquelles, and an alias “Putot,” all residents of the same village, evaded arrest though. They escaped via a sugarcane plantation after sensing the presence of a PDEA poseur-buyer, the police report said.
The seized illegal drugs, weighed about six kilograms, packed in six transparent re-sealable plastic pouches. These were wrapped in paper and sealed with packing tape.
The operatives also confiscated a black mobile phone and a black motorcycle, the police report added.
Personnel of the Negros Occidental Police Provincial Drug Enforcement Unit and the Provincial Intelligence Unit, as well as troops from the Philippine Army’s 12th and 79th Infantry Battalions, joined the operation.
In Bacolod, police authorities seized P1.44 million worth of shabu in a drug buy-bust at Purok Ube, Barangay 4 around 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday.
The two arrested suspects were identified as Marawi City residents Faisalin Ibra, 21, of Barangay Raya, and Norhan Caunda, 42, of Barangay Lilod.
They are currently residing at the Islamic Center on Lopez Jaena St. in Barangay 30.
The Bacolod police report said the operatives seized one big and five medium plastic sachets of suspected shabu, weighing about 120 grams and two P1,000 bills used as marked money.
Operatives also seized a Hyundai sedan without a plate number.
The suspects are now detained at Police Station 2.
