Cops seize P4.8-M ‘shabu’ in Bacolod and Victorias

Police drug enforcement teams have seized P4.841 million worth of suspected shabu from four suspects in a series of buy-bust operations in this provincial capital and the southern city of Victorias in Negros Occidental.

The largest haul was 500 grams with an estimated value of P3.4 million at P6,800 per gram, during an operation at around 5:45 p.m. yesterday afternoon, Feb. 10 along Osmeña Avenue, Barangay 21 in Victorias City, a report of the Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office said.

The operation resulted in the arrest of Jesther Soquena, 46, and Biboy Dacumos, 38, residents of Doña Juliana Subdivision, Barangay Taculing and Purok Lison, Barangay 1, Bacolod, respectively.

Soquena is considered the No. 1 city-level personality in the list of Victorias City Police Station.

In a statement today, Col. Leo Pamittan, acting police provincial director, commended the operating troops for the successful operation and their continuous efforts in the campaign against illegal drugs.

Joint operatives of Victorias Police Station and Philippine National Police Drug Enforcement Group (PDEG) Special Operations Unit-Western Visayas (SOU-6) recovered three knot-tied and 17 heat-sealed transparent plastic sachets containing suspected shabu from the two suspects who were on board a gold Toyota Vios vehicle.

Both Soquena and Dacumos are now in police custody while the evidence was turned over to the Negros Occidental Crime Laboratory.

About four hours later in Bacolod, Mark Daniel Angas, 39, was arrested in another operation at Purok Kabulakan 1, Barangay Singcang-Airport by the joint team from Police Station 8 and PDEG SOU-6.

According to the report of Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO), during the operation around 9:41 p.m., the suspect yielded 32 big heat-sealed transparent plastic sachets of suspected shabu, one of which is the buy-bust item.

The recovered prohibited substance, with a volume of 205 grams, was valued at P1.394 million.

Around 12:36 a.m. today, Danilo Carpentero, 48, the sixth personality in the priority target list of the BCPO’s City Drug Enforcement Unit, was also arrested in Purok Kagaykay, Barangay 2.

The suspect, who sold P500 of suspected shabu to a poseur-buyer from Police Station 2, was found possessing around seven grams of the prohibited substance valued at P47,600.* (Nanette Guadalquiver)