The Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7). | CDN Digital file photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines – Police are currently monitoring the activities of two groups believed to be behind the smuggling of illegal drugs in Central Visayas.
“Right now, we are monitoring at least two groups in Central Visayas. Actually in the past, daghan siyang grupo. But over time, we were able to dismantle these drug groups and we are now confronting two groups involved in illegal drugs,” Police Lieutenant Colonel Gerard Ace Pelare, the spokesperson of the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7), said.
Pelare said these groups have been operating for a long time now and were mentioned in various custodial debriefings that they did on arrested drug suspects.
He said that Brig. Gen. Anthony Abellada Aberin, the PRO-7 director, has given an instruction to ‘upgrade’ their demand reduction strategy as a means to counter the continued operation of these two groups.
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Last March 4, over P70 million worth of illegal drugs were confiscated in separate operations in the region, a manifestation of law enforcement’s extensive monitoring and intelligence operations in collaboration with concerned citizens.
Smuggling
Pelare admitted that the smuggling of illegal drugs, coming from other parts of the country, to Central Visayas remains a big challenge.
“Yes, there is still a challenge in the flow of supply in Central Visayas. We remain to be the transshipment port of illegal drugs. But we can also see how effective our operatives on the ground [are],” he said.
Based on their intelligence gathering, most of the illegal drugs that are smuggled into the region come from Manila and Southern Tagalog.
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While some of these may have slipped through the different ports here, they do not discount the possibility of smugglers using other means in transporting these contraband without being detected.
Illegal drugs
To address this, Pelare said they deployed law enforcers in the different ports in the region as they also continue to collaborate with other government agencies.
In addition, they also deployed K9 units in the different points of entry in order to assist in detecting contraband.
Moreover, Pelare said they will be validating reports on the alleged involvement of some prisoners in Bohol province, and other neighboring provinces, in the illegal drug trade.
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“Accordingly, the arrested suspects told us nga naay nagfacilitate from not only in Abuyog, [but also] in jail facilities [in Bohol]. But Abuyog Penal Colony is one of those mentioned. And we are trying to validate this information. We do not have confirmation as to this pero gi-consider ni pag-ayo sa atong mga investigators on the ground,” he said.
No rise in demand
But despite the smuggling operations in Central Visayas, Pelare said, they have not noticed any increase in the demand for illegal drugs.
Still, they continue to implement supply and demand reduction strategies as they also continue to monitor the entry of illegal drugs in the region.
“As I’ve said, we are still confronting challenges in illegal drugs. But your government, the PNP, the PDEA, are doing everything that we can in order to stop the supply and of course, control the demand. And we are gaining grounds, dako na kay tag naabot,” he added.