• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
A series of buy-bust operations in Bacolod City and Negros Occidental led to the recovery of more than P6 million in shabu in the past three days.
In Bacolod City, operatives of Bacolod City Police Office recovered P5.134 million in shabu and arrested two drug personalities outside a residence in Purok Mars, Barangay Singcang-Airport on Wednesday.
The suspects were George Jayme Jr., 49, a resident of Murcia, Negros Occidental, and Dharryl Escanuela, 41, of Olongapo City, Zambales, who is staying at Royal Amrei Hotel in the city.
PMajor Eugene Tolentino, chief of Police Station 8, the operating unit, said on Thursday they had been monitoring the activities of the two suspects for two weeks before their arrest.
During the operation that started at 10:22 p.m., the undercover policeman bought a big plastic sachet of shabu worth P3,000 from the suspects.
Found in Jayme’s possession were seven knot-tied and five big heat-sealed plastic sachets of shabu, while Escanuela yielded five big heat-sealed plastic sachets containing the same prohibited substance.
The total volume of shabu seized was about 775 grams, valued at P5.134 million.
The operation, led by Special Operations Unit Region-6 of the Philippine National Police Drug Enforcement Group, also arrested suspect Ed Ryan in Purok Villa Esperanza, Barangay Tangub before 8:30 a.m. on Thursday.
Hermino sold a small plastic sachet of shabu to the poseur-buyer worth P1,000, and authorities found in his possession 108 grams of shabu placed in plastic sachets of various sizes worth P714,000.
Before midnight on Wednesday, two operations were also conducted by personnel of Police Stations 1 and 7, respectively.
Michael Cañete, 45, was arrested with five grams of shabu worth P34,000 in Purok Dughan Barangay 10, while Robert Serillo and Ronald Almaiz yielded eight grams of the same prohibited substance valued at P54,400 in Purok Roadside 2, Barangay Alijis.
In Negros Occidental, operatives seized 20 grams of shabu worth P136,000 from two arrested drug suspects, Alvie Taco and Joseph Sapu-an, in Barangay Tan-awan, Kabankalan City on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, four other drug suspects were apprehended in the cities of Sagay, La Carlota and Kabankalan as well as Pontevedra town, resulting in the confiscation of more than 10 grams of shabu worth P70,000. | GB
