Central Visayas Cop Chief Vows to Dismantle Slain Suspected Drug Lord’s Syndicate

Chief Superintendent Patrocinio Comendador Jr., Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 director, has vowed to dismantle the multi-million-peso criminal drug syndicate of the number one drug personality in the region named “Jaguar” who was slain in an encounter with the police in Metro Manila on Friday.

“We are dismantling whatever structure Jaguar had in his criminal syndicate,” Comendador Jr. said.

Jaguar, whose real name was Jeffrey Diaz, 37, of Barangay Duljo-Fatima, Cebu City, was killed by policemen along with his bodyguard, Paul Vincent Igloria, 26, in a shootout with the police in Barangay Almanza 1, Las Piñas City, at past 10 p.m. on Friday.

Comendador said the police saw a glimpse of how big Diaz’s illegal drug operation was during their surveillance work in the National Capital Region (NCR).

Police said they were trying to serve an arrest warrant on another drug suspect, when they spotted Diaz.

Comendador said they have been tracing Diaz’s whereabouts even before the latter was interviewed by the media and made public his desire to surrender.

Police intelligence officials said Diaz laid low in Central Visayas, but he was still operating in Negros Island, Western Visayas, Eastern Visayas and lately, in the NCR.

Diaz could reportedly dispose of at least five kilograms of “shabu” every week valued at about PHP59 million.

Comendador said Diaz had a wide network of connections in Cebu and the neighboring regions.

“We have some names, some properties of his under false names so now we have solid details of his criminal enterprise,” he said.

“So far, we see that drug personalities have fled. We expect that someone will take Jaguar’s place but won’t have as large a reach,” Comendador said. (PNA) LAP/EB/EBP