PDEA-7 Seized 37 Kilos of Shabu in a Year

The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in Central Visayas (PDEA-7) has recovered a total of over 37 kilos of shabu from July 1, 2016 up to June 30 this year.

This was reported Friday by PDEA-7 information officer Leia Albiar, who said the equivalent value of the 37,672.30 grams of drugs seized was PHP444,533,140.

Albiar said the quantity of drugs seized was relatively higher than what the agency had accomplished for the 2015-2016 period. However, documents provided to the media did not indicate the amount of drugs confiscated during that period.

This improved accomplishment can be attributed to President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s intensified anti-drug campaign program and the cooperation of the public.

“The community has contributed greatly to the PDEA’s operations,” said Albiar. “The community has been very active in giving us information about drug personalities.”

The PDEA-7 has also arrested 535 drug personalities in 225 operations conducted in the Central Visayas region.

Albiar said the agency was currently monitoring the activities of suspected high-value pushers, whose identities were provided by those earlier arrested.

“We are also monitoring drug dens. Drug dens are considered a big problem to the community. The presence of a drug den in a community is already an indication that drug use is rampant in that particular area,” Albiar added.

Meanwhile, PDEA-7 arrested on Thursday a former cop-turned-pusher on Salvador St. in Barangay Labangon, this city.

Former PO1 Duane Salazar, 40, who is also identified as a hitman of the late drug lord Jeffrey “Jaguar” Diaz, was caught in a buy-bust operation with 210 grams of “shabu” in his possession, which has a street value worth over PHP600,000. (LBG/PNA)