A kilo of suspected shabu was confiscated from a food delivery service driver during a buy-bust operation conducted by PDEA-7 agents in Barangay Sambag, Cebu City on August 14, 2020.| Photo courtesy of PDEA-7
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Intensified operations and close coordination between the police in Central Visayas and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in Central Visayas (PDEA-7) have led to the confiscation of 17 kilos of suspected shabu worth P114.4 million in a span of more than two months.
Director Levi Ortiz of the PDEA-7 cited these factors for their P17 kilo drug haul in 91 anti-drug operations since June 20, 2020 to September 4, 2020.
Ortiz told reporters this afternoon, September 4, 2020 that during these operations they arrested 141 individuals including 63 high value targets.
Aside from that, Ortiz said that they had also destroyed 52,240 stalks of fully grown marijuana worth P20.980 million and confiscated 500 grams of dried marijuana leaves worth P60,000 in the same span of time.
Read: Cultivators of marijuana plants in Toledo City elude arrest
Ortiz said that the illegal drug problem in Cebu and Central Visayas was manageable and that the reason for the 17-kilo suspected shabu haul was that PDEA-7 agents were working hard to continuously gather intelligence against certain drug personalities.
He said the coordination between the police and other agencies also helped in the successful operations.
“Di man gyud ta makaingon nga dako gyud ang problema (with illegal drugs). We can address the problem man gud. The reason man gud nga daghan tang operation, daghan tang confiscation, kay gihingusgan sad jud nato and atong anti-drug operation,” he said.
(We cannot say that we have a big problem with illegal drugs. We can address the problem. The reason for that was we have more operations, more confiscations because we intensified our anti-drug operations.)
“At the same time, nindot atong relation with the PNP ang atoang information sharing, so daghan gyud ta ug nakuhang information,plus with the active support sa mga barangays,” said Ortiz.
(At the same time, we have good relations with the PNP — our information sharing so we have more information gathered plus with the active support of our barangays.)
Aside from that, Ortiz said that they continued to coordinate with the courier service companies especially in Cebu along with the agency’s continuous K9 inspections in seaports and airports area.
He said this measure was related to information that most of the illegal drugs came from the National Capital Region and had been transported through cargos via sea travel.
A measure that led to one of the biggest drug hauls of PDEA-7 where they confiscated at least P80 million worth of suspected shabu hidden in boxes of LED Lights last month.
Read: P81.6M shabu found in three LED light boxes inside Mandaue City warehouse