P15.1M suspected shabu seized in Central Visayas over the weekend

At least 1.1 kilos of suspected shabu worth P7.4 million was confiscated from a 29-year-old man during a buy-bust operation conducted in Sitio Tarcom, Barangay Busay, Cebu City, past 2 p.m. on Saturday, June 11, 2022. | Mabolo PS

CEBU CITY, Philippines — A total of P15 million worth of suspected shabu was seized in Central Visayas during the conduct of the Simultaneous Enhanced Managing Police Operations (SEMPO) over the weekend.

Police Brigadier General Roque Eduardo Vega, director of the Police Regional Office (PRO-7), said in a statement on Sunday evening, June 12, that from the 172 drug operations they conducted, they arrested 172 drug suspects.

The SEMPO started around 12:01 a.m. on June 11 to 12:01 a.m. on June 12.

From the operations, police confiscated at least 2.2 kilos of ‘shabu’ worth P15.1 million.

About P11.6 million or 1.6 kilos of the illegal drugs confiscated were from the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO), which conducted 34 operations leading to the arrest of 37 individuals.

The biggest drug haul was from the operation in Sitio Tarcom, Barangay Busay, where police confiscated P7.4 million worth of suspected shabu or 1.1 kilos of the illegal drug.

READ: Busay buy-bust yields P7.4M shabu; suspect nabbed, wounded in shootout

Police said they had been monitoring Sitio Tarcom and they confirmed the existing illegal drug activities there,

It can be recalled that on June 6, 2022, the suspect in the killing of a Consolacion policeman on June 5, was killed in an ‘armed encounter’ with the police in the area.

READ: Suspect in shooting Consolacion police officer killed in ‘armed encounter’

The suspect in that incident was monitored for his illegal drug activities in Barangay Casili in Consolacion town. However, police said that he was already a drug player in Cebu City.

Rafter said that the mentioned incident had pushed them to focus their operations in the area.

She also said that they also needed to improve their community engagement there so residents would also cooperate in their fight against illegal drugs and criminality.

According to Rafter, illegal drug activities in Cebu, somewhat, moved to interior areas or in mountain barangays. Drug suspects have limited their operations here in the downtown area, perhaps, because of the relentless efforts of the police against them.

“Drugs are really scattering na. Dili na gyud sya sa sentro lang,”  Rafter said.

(Drugs are really scattering [to other areas away from the urban centers]. It is not just in the center of the city.)

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