PRO-7: Sabalones drug group may lie low after leader’s death

Franz Sabalones | INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Police are closely monitoring the drug activities of drug groups associated with self-confessed drug lord, Franz Saballones, who was reportedly shot dead in Quezon City on Maundy Thursday, April 19.

Police Brigadier General Debold Sinas, Police Regional Office in Central Visayas director, said that the Sabalones drug group, which was traced to have been based in San Fernando town in southern Cebu, might lie low following the death of their leader.

Read more: A timeline on Franz Sabalones: From confession to death

Sinas said that the Sabalones drug group would most likely undergo a realignment of its ranks following Sabalones’ death, and his siblings including San Fernando Vice Mayor Fralz Sabalones would most likely go into hiding.

“Kadaghanan ani manago na apil na iyang mga igsoon. Mohinay ni (drug trade) kadali. (Most of them will go into hiding including the sibling of Franz. The drug trade will slow down for a while),” said Sinas.

He said they would also continue to monitor the drug trade in Cebu to see the impact of Sabalones’s death on the supply of drugs getting in Cebu.

Read more: Where is San Fernando Vice Mayor Fralz Sabalones?

He said this was because they suspected Franz was one of the sources of drugs being smuggled from the National Capital Region (NCR) to Cebu.

He said if the supply of drugs in Cebu would go down, then it would prove their theory that Franz was indeed one of the sources of drugs from the NCR.

Read more: Sabalones and former aide may still be working together — police

Sinas said they were coordinating with the Quezon City Police District (QCPD) on the records and files of Sabalones from PRO-7 since they did not jurisdiction over Franz Sabalones’ death.

“For our part in PRO-7, we monitor ang katong mga nadakpan na namo sa una, gipangbalik namo, gipang-interview, they stated nga siya (Sabalones) gyod daw to,” said Sinas.

(For our part in PRO-7, we monitor those we already caught and allegedly part of the Sabalones drug group. We interviewed them again. They all said that it was Franz Sabalones who was shot.)

Sinas, however, said that he still could not confirm if the person, who was shot dead in Quezon City was indeed Franz Sabalones because the identification card found with th body was named Jerome Cabilao from Calle Zaragosa Catillo, Talon Dos in Las Piñas City.

Sinas said that the final identification of the body would only be established once an immediate family member could identify the body and a DNA check could be done to establish a scientific evidence.

A man claiming to be a cousin of Franz positively identified the body on the night he was shot dead by an unknown assailant.

“As of now, we believe that it may be him (Franz),” said Sinas.

He also said that they were continuing to coordinate with the QCPD in the investigation of Franz’s death. | dbs