DESPITE an intensified campaign against drugs, the sale of illegal drugs remains prevalent in Central Visayas.
Only street pushers are getting caught, not the suppliers.
The big-time drug pushers have the resources to hide and elude arrest, said Senior Supt. Conrado Capa in yesterday’s Talakayan sa Isyung Pulis (TSIP) forum at Camp Sergio Osmeña.
Capa, deputy chief of operations division of PRO-7 and acting Cebu city police chief, assured that efforts continue to arrest drug operators.
The team effort is being made by Regional Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Task Operations Group (RAIDSOTG-7) and the Regional Special Operations Group (RSOG).
Last year, PRO-7 recorded 2,585 anti-illegal drug operations that resulted in the deaths of 33 suspects and seven others wounded following shootouts with police.
Five policemen were killed and 10 other lawmen were wounded in those operations.
The Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO) had the most number of operations with 813 where 14 drug suspects were killed.
Four policemen were also killed in those operations.
In Cebu City, nine out 80 barangays are considered areas highly affected by illegal drugs.
Senior Insp. Henrix Bancoleta, chief of RAIDSOTG-7, said no Cebu City barangay is not affected to some degree by illegal drugs with others considered slightly and moderately affected.
The nine barangays include Kamagayan, T. Padilla, Lorega, Barrio Luz, Pit-os, Pulang Bato, Talamban, Bacayan and Duljo Fatima.
Four of the 13 barangays highly affected by illegal drugs are in Negros and Bohol provinces.
But of the 3,003 barangays in Central Visayas, 1,633 or more than 50 percent are declared unaffected while 142 barangays have been cleared from illegal drug operations.
“There were eight drug groups monitored operating in the whole region of Central Visayas mostly in the island of Cebu, some in Bohol and Negros,” said Bancoleta.
He said the classification is based on the pushers and users in the barangay monitored in coordination with the local government officials.
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