AN ESTIMATED P18 million worth of “shabu” (methamphetamine hydrochloride) set to be transported to Negros Occidental were seized by authorities from two suspected drug couriers at Dumangas port in Iloilo at 8:30 p.m. on Sunday.
The illegal drugs were confiscated from Jose Alberto Pinaga, 32, and common-law wife Maebelle Belmonte, 30, both residents of Barangay Mambulac, Silay City, Negros Occidental.
Senior Superintendent Marlon Tayaba, director of Iloilo Police Provincial Office (IPPO), said the suspects were on board a white pick-up truck bound for Negros Occidental via a roll-on, roll-off vessel.
He said the couple allegedly sourced the illegal drugs from Luzon, and traveled through the Batangas Port and then passed the ports in Mindoro and Caticlan in Aklan.
When they reached the port of Dumangas, they were arrested following a drug bust conducted by joint operatives of IPPO, Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-Western Visayas, and Dumangas Sub-Station of the Philippine Coast Guard.
A K-9 dog of the Coast Guard detected the illegal drugs inside the suspects’ vehicle.
Authorities seized from the suspects a kilo of shabu, small sachets of the same illegal substance, mobile phones, and the P50,000 drug bust money.
Tayaba said the couple admitted it was the third time they transported illegal drugs of the same volume from Luzon to Negros Occidental.
The couple refused to name their contacts in Negros Occidental.
A follow-up operation Monday morning led to the arrest of their alleged associate, Corazon Vergel, 64, at Barangay Matab-ang, Talisay City, Negros Occidental.
Vergel, a resident of Barangay 27, Bacolod City, who possessed 15 grams of shabu worth P180,000, was collared by operatives of Provincial Drug Enforcement Unit of Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office in a drug bust at 9:15 a.m.
Chief Superintendent Cesar Hawthorne Binag, director of Police Regional Office-Western Visayas, commended the operatives for the arrest of the two suspects in Iloilo and the huge drug haul.
“I would like to note the enthusiasm and eagerness to work of our operatives especially our policemen after they were back to their crucial role in eliminating illegal drugs,” he said.
Binag said that with the arrest of the two drug couriers, there will be a decrease in the supply of illegal drugs in Negros Occidental. (GYM with reports from PNA)