By Glazyl Y. Masculino
BACOLOD CITY – The Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO) scored another major drug bust, seizing PHP6.8 million worth of suspected shabu in an operation at Purok Masinadyahon, Barangay 12, on Thursday.
Police identified the suspect as alias “Mar-Mar,” a 24-year-old resident of the village.
Operatives of the City Drug Enforcement Unit (CDEU) confiscated 1,000 grams of suspected shabu, an empty Chinese tea bag, PHP2,000 in marked money, a digital weighing scale, and PHP1,100 in cash from the suspect.
Police Lt. Col. Antonio Benitez Jr., CDEU head, said the suspect is considered a high-value individual (HVI) due to the volume of drugs recovered.
Benitez noted that the suspect had been arrested for a drug offense in March last year but was released in October of the same year. He said he is unaware of how the suspect was able to get out of jail.
Benitez believes the illegal drugs may have been sourced from Manila, judging by the packaging, and were delivered to the suspect in Bacolod.
The operation was launched after the CDEU received complaints about the suspect, who had also been identified as a “distributor” of illegal drugs by previously arrested suspects.
The suspect allegedly admitted he was repacking the drugs for distribution during the MassKara Festival.
BCPO’s recent series of large drug recoveries aims to prevent the spread of illegal drugs during the city’s 45th MassKara Festival.
The suspect is currently detained at Police Station 1.
Meanwhile, in Negros Occidental, a 39-year-old man was arrested with 30 grams of suspected shabu worth PHP204,000 in Barangay San Juan, Pontevedra town.
Police Captain Darryl Kuhutan, the town’s police chief, said it took months of monitoring the suspect, identified as alias “Juaning.”
According to surveillance, the suspect sold vegetables outside his home during the day and allegedly engaged in illegal drug activity at night.
