DRUGS, DRUGS EVERYWHERE!

Police authorities suspect the shabu supply now in Cebu was part of the multi-billion-peso drug shipment that slipped through the Bureau of Customs

Rolando Ocampo, 37, a scavenger, is among those arrested in Barangay Inayawan, Cebu City, during the One Time, Big Time operation by the Cebu City Police Office on Sunday, Oct. 28, 2018. The Pardo Police Station seized from his possession packets of shabu
valued at P121,000.

More than P20 million worth of shabu (crystal meth) were seized in Cebu in just a span of one week, but authorities do not seem to know where these drug supplies were exactly coming from.

Top officials of Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7), however, believed that the supply of illegal drugs that has entered Cebu came from
Luzon, mainly the National Capital Region.

The most recent haul totaled P2.3 million, confiscated from the series of police operations in Cebu City on Sunday, or barely two days after nearly P10 million of shabu were taken in two drug busts, also in Cebu City.

Sunday’s haul was the result of the “One Time, Big Time” operation (OTBT) conducted by the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO). The OTBT is a nationwide campaign of the Philippine National Police that required police units to conduct simultaneous anti-crime raids, including buy busts, at any given day.

Chief Supt. Debold Sinas, the director of PRO-7, said that they believed that the big bulk of the drug supply in Central Visayas, particularly in Cebu, came from Metro Manila.

“(This is) based on the results of interviews and elicitation from arrested pushers and intelligence reports, all supply of shabu came from Metro Manila,” said Sinas in a text message to Cebu Daily News.

Sinas, however, said they were not sure yet of the source of the drugs, but they suspected that the shabu now in Cebu came from the shipment that went through undetected by the Bureau of Customs (BOC) in Manila.

“Most likely (it came from there), but we don’t have report and confirmation (about it),” said Sinas.

Aside from the possibility that the shabu supply in Cebu came from the shipment that slipped through the BOC, Sinas said they were also looking into the likelihood that a shabu laboratory is being operated somewhere in the region.

But he admitted that they have yet to monitor any shabu laboratory anywhere in Central Visayas.

“As of now, wala kaming na monitor na shabu lab (oratory) dinhi sa Central Visayas particularly Cebu island,” said Sinas.
Sinas, however, said that while they have no evidence to indicate that a shabu laboratory is operating in Central Visayas, it does not mean it does not exist.

One time, Big Time
Yesterday, all 11 police stations under the CCPO simultaneously conducted drug bust operations, which led to the confiscation of a total of 240 grams of shabu, which, based on the Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) valuation, amounted to P2.3 million.

The police conducted 10 buy-bust operations and served 10 search warrants that resulted to the arrest of 31 suspected drug personalities all over the city.

This was the fourth OTBT operation in Cebu City since July.

Chief Insp. Wilbert Parilla, operations chief of CCPO, said that their OTBT operation this month was solely for drug personalities.

“This is part of our intensive fight against illegal drugs. Right now, we want to focus on drug personalities in this operation,” said Parilla.

He added that they conducted this OTBT following the information given by the community through text messages and social media alerts or posts about the proliferation of drugs in their areas.

He added that they applied for search warrants in court for those alleged drug personalities whose illegal activities were discreet but whose operations were actually being monitored by the police.

Parilla said that some of the drug personalities they had arrested were difficult to collar since they kept on transferring their bases of operation.

One of this suspected drug pusher nabbed on Sunday was Mary Joy Aro, 37, of Sitio Plus, Barangay Inayawan, Cebu City.

Aro has been in the drug watch list of CCPO for years now but they only arrested the suspected drug pusher yesterday, Perilla said.

Also arrested in a buy-bust operation in Inayawan was a scavenger, identified as Rolando Ocampo, 37, from whom the Drug Enforcement Unit of the

Pardo Police Precinct found packets of shabu with a total value of P121,000.

Ocampo was nabbed after Aro, angered by her arrest, told police she should not be the only one who should be arrested because there were others who were also pushing shabu in the same area.

Drug queen and a minor
Meanwhile, the Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO)-Provincial Intelligence Branch (PIB) arrested an alleged “drug queen” and rescued a minor in a buy-bust operation in Naga City, Cebu, yesterday.

Senior Insp. Alejandro Batobalonos, the CPPO’s Provincial Drug Enforcement Unit (PDEU) chief, said that they considered Antonette Kanemaru as a high-value target.

Kanemaru, 37, was allegedly a drug queen operating from Barangay Inuboran, Naga City, Cebu.

The police operatives were able to confiscate 40 grams of shabu from Kanemaru, which has a DDB value of P472,000.

Batobalonos said they were also able to rescue a minor who was believed to be cohort of the alleged drug queen.

“Na-rescue nato ang 17-anyos nga lalaki nga identified as drug courier ni Kanemaru (We rescued the 17-year-old boy who is identified as drug courier of Kanemaru),” said Batobalonos.

Batobalonos added that a certain Bembo Barciana, another alleged cohort of Kanemaru, eluded arrest during the buy-bust operation.

P20M in 7 days
In a tally made by CDN, the shabu confiscated by the police from Oct. 22 to 28 reached to P20,360,000 in Cebu alone.

The Cebu City Police Office confiscated more or less P13.5 million worth of shabu and arrested 41 drug personalities and rescued one minor during their anti-illegal drug operations.

The Cebu Provincial Police Office, on the other hand, seized more or less P5.06 million worth of shabu during drug bust operations in different parts of Cebu province.

There were also 18 drug personalities arrested and two minors rescued in the province.

The Mandaue City Police Office (MCPO), for its part, confiscated more or less P1.8 million worth of shabu over the same period.

The MCPO also arrested 23 individuals. Most of these individuals were arrested in police checkpoints.