At least P5.7 million worth of ecstasy tablets were seized from a 30-year-old man during a controlled delivery operation on Monday afternoon, July 18, in Barangay Pasil, Cebu City. | File photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Policemen in Cebu City admitted that it’s difficult for them to stop the distribution of ecstacy tablets that are considered as the preferred drug of high-profile individuals.
Its sellers are also very picky when choosing their buyers.
But they are not giving up in their campaign against the proliferation of the designer drug in the city, Police Lieutenant Colonel Wilbert Parilla, deputy director for administration of the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO), said.
Parilla said they continue to dialog and coordinate with bar owners to tap their assistance in monitoring the proliferation of the illegal drugs, especially in party places.
“We have a problem man gud aning atoang ecstasy kay dili ni sya pareha sa shabu nga ang mga namaligya og shabu kay pwede ra nilang taga-an. Ang kaning ecstasy sa higher level rapod ni sya nga mga addicts. Usually, ang nga namaligya ani, dili sila mobaligya ani unless kaila gyud sila,” Parilla said.
A tablet is sold for P2, 000 to P3, 000. And because it is expensive, its distribution is not as rampant in public places as shabu.
“With the ecstasy diri sa Cebu, dili siya ingun ana ka rampant considering nga ang market limited ra sad. Dili man gud na pareha sa shabu nga ang mugamit, daghan,” Parilla said.
On Monday, a dealer from Barangay Pasil was arrested with at least P5 million worth of suspected ecstasy tablets.
READ: Ecstasy tablets worth P5M seized, man nabbed in Cebu City’s Pasil
The operation started after law enforcers learned of the arrival of a suspicious package from abroad at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport last July 10.
Authorities learned that the package contained ecstacy tablets, which prompted them to start to monitor its recipient, a certain Lunel Padin.
It took at least a week for agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in Central Visayas to contact Padin, 30, and plan the July 18 controlled delivery operation in coordination with the Bureau of Customs and Ninoy Aquino International Airport Anti-Illegal Drug Interdiction Task Group.
Parilla said in an interview on Tuesday that ecstacy tablets are mostly sold to clients of high-end and exclusive bars.
“Naay pamparty nga bisag tagurha o tulo ka adlaw dili ka maluya and we have also experienced nga duna nay mga ma overdose…Young sila, usually mga 20 to early 30s,” he added.
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/ dcb