Bacolod cops seize P770-K worth of ‘shabu’ from 2 suspects

August 6, 2021

Suspect Jaime Garde (standing, left) is arrested by operatives of the Bacolod City Police Station 5 during a buy-bust in Purok Gonzaga, Barangay Taculing before midnight on Thursday, Aug. 5, 2021. The drug enforcement team seized about 110 grams of suspected shabu with an estimated street value of P770,000.* (Photo courtesy of BCPO via PNA)

Anti-drug operatives of the Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO) seized suspected shabu with an estimated street value of P770,000 from two suspects during a buy-bust operation in a residence in Barangay Taculing last night Aug. 5, 2021, a police report showed.

The drug personalities were identified as Jaime Garde, 39, now in police custody, and Jobel Blam, the subject of the operation who evaded arrest.

Capt. John Christopher Masangkay, chief of BCPO Station 5, said in a radio interview today that Blam owns the house where the buy-bust took place and escaped through a hidden hole behind a cabinet.

During the operation in Purok Gonzaga at about 11:10 p.m., the drug enforcement team confiscated two pouches and several sachets of suspected shabu weighing about 110 grams, along with the P2,000 buy-bust money and a weighing scale.

Masangkay said both suspects distribute the prohibited substance in large quantities to their contacts.

Operatives also found a list of collectibles, showing at least P250,000 worth of shabu distributed by the suspects.

Garde had been detained for two years also for violation of Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 and was released only last year.* (Nanette Guadalquiver, PNA)