Three men, including the alleged drug den maintainer, were arrested during a buy-bust operation conducted at Purok 8, Barangay Cogon in Tagbilaran City, Bohol on Thursday evening, May 12, 2022. | Photo courtesy of PDEA-7
CEBU CITY, Philippines — A total of 24 drug dens were shut down during various operations conducted this year in Central Visayas, according to data from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in Central Visayas (PDEA-7).
Leia Alcantara, PDEA-7 spokesperson, said this following the recent operation where PDEA-7 operatives from Bohol province conducted on May 12, 2022, a buy-bust operation resulting to the closing of a suspected drug den and the arrest of three individuals, including the suspected drug den maintainer.
Alcantara was referring to the May 12 operation conducted at Purok 8, Barangay Cogon in Tagbilaran City, Bohol province.
Operatives identified the three suspects as suspected drug den visitors, Alvin Simpson, 20, mechanic; John Marlon Agua, 26, pet shop staff; and Bogart Rivera, 35, the alleged drug den maintainer.
According to Alcantara, operatives of the PDEA-Bohol Provincial Office, confiscated seven packs of suspected shabu weighing around seven grams, which had an estimated market value of P47,600.
She said that it took a week of case buildup before they conducted the buy-bust operation at the suspected drug den.
Alcantara said that Rivera, the alleged drug den maintainer, could dispose of at least 10 grams or more in a week of illegal drugs.
The three suspects were detained at the Tagbilaran Police Station pending the filing of illegal drug charges.
Further, Alcantara said that this is the 24th drug den that their office had shut down for this year alone.
This is nine more than the number of suspected drug dens shut down last year which was 15.
According to their last year’s data, Alcantara said that from January to May 2021, they had closed 15 drug dens with 93 arrests — the oldest of those arrested was one of the suspected drug den maintainers, who was 62 years old.
She also said that in these operations, they also rescued a 17-year-old boy who was found inside the suspected drug den during the raid.
This year from January to May 12, 2022, Alcantara said that they shut down 24 suspected drug dens with 95 arrested individuals.
They also arrested an 18-year-old man, who was a drug den employee and the youngest among the 95 arrested while the oldest was a 72-year-old suspected drug den operator.
The majority of these closed suspected drug dens were recorded in Cebu.
Alcantara also said that most of the arrested drug den maintainers were jobless, and were engaged in this illegal activity as their primary source of income.
She also said that the higher number of suspected drug dens this year was probably due to the fewer restrictions, and with the public being able to move freely, some resumed their illegal drug business again.
“According sa monitoring sa atong teams, kasagaran sa nadismantle, dugay na nagoperate. naglie low lang,” she said.
(According to our monitoring teams, most of the drug dens that we shut down, had been operating for quite a while now, they just lay low [during the pandemic].)
Closing drug dens had been considered a high-impact operation as drug dens were breeding grounds for violence and criminality and disrupt peace and order in the community, Alcantara said.
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