• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
A series of police operations yielded P1.945 million worth of suspected shabu, assorted firearms, and led to the arrest of 21 individuals, one of them wounded in an armed encounter, in Negros Occidental on March 14 and 15.
On Saturday, alias “Ricky”, 35, traded shots with the policemen who served a search warrant against him at Spur 14 in Barangay Bunga, Don Salvador Benedicto.
He was injured and brought to a medical facility for treatment.
Operatives recovered from his possession about 45 grams of suspected shabu worth P306,000, a caliber .45 pistol with a magazine containing six ammunition, a fired cartridge, and assorted shabu paraphernalia.
Three other suspects identified only as “Kurt”, “Jheezer”, and “Renan”, all residents of the same barangay were also arrested by the police.
They yielded three grams of suspected shabu valued at P20,400.
Three more suspects, among them a market vendor and a laborer, were arrested by the police in the cities of Cadiz, Sagay, and Silay on March 15.
They also yielded two caliber .38 revolvers with six ammunition, and a caliber 9mm revolver with four ammunition.
On Friday, a 54-year-old tricycle driver in Ilog was apprehended possessing a Smith and Wesson caliber .22 revolver with three ammunition and 1.2 grams of suspected shabu worth P8,160.
In Bacolod City, five drug suspects were arrested with 187 grams of suspected shabu valued at P1.271 million, which were recovered from their possession during the operations in Barangays Tangub and Singcang-Airport.
The apprehension of eight other drug suspects in the cities of San Carlos, Silay, Talisay Bago and Himamaylan as well as the municipalities of Manapla and Pontevedra led to the recovery of 50 grams of suspected shabu worth P340,000. | GB
