A teenager was arrested in a buy-bust operation in Sitio Canday-ong, Barangay Calindagan in Dumaguete City, at around 1:15 p.m. Tuesday, after about P53,100 worth of suspected shabu was seized from him.
Insp. Ryan Jay Orapa, chief of the Provincial Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Group, withheld the identity of the suspect for being a minor, but said he is a resident of the sitio.
The minor was arrested when he handed suspected shabu to a police poseur buyer, Orapa said.
Four transparent sachets of suspected shabu, weighing about 4.5 grams, marked money, an improvised tooter, disposable lighters, and suspected drug paraphernalia were seized from the suspect, he added.
The minor was brought to the City Social Welfare & Development Office.
Senior Supt. Mariano Natuel Jr., OIC provincial police director, said they have conducted 153 anti-illegal drugs operations from January to July this year. These have led to the arrest of 203 suspected drug pushers and 49 users, and the filing of 243 cases in courts, he said.
The total volume of illegal drugs confiscated during the period was 497.2 grams, worth P5.86 million, based on the Dangerous Drugs Board pricing.
Most of the anti-drugs operations were staged from June 28 to the end of July, and 306.5 grams of “shabu”, worth P3.6 million, were confiscated from 44 persons nabbed in 34 anti-drugs operations.
These included the confiscation of 17 cell phones allegedly used in the anti-drugs transactions, 17 firearms, one sub machine gun, a Norinco 45 caliber pistol, a .45 Colt caliber pistol, shotgun, three Smith and Wesson 3.57 revolvers, one homemade .45 caliber pistol, one 9m Norinco caliber pistol, two hand grenades, and three .38 caliber revolvers.
Natuel said the Provincial Police Office is working to declare Negros Oriental a drug-free Province, and that all law enforcement agencies are pooling their resources to have Negros Oriental declared a drug-manageable Province by the end of this year, and a drug-free Province in 2015, he added.
In his accomplishment report to the Provincial Peace and Order Council Tuesday, Natuel said 119 loose firearms were confiscated from 78 persons, and 82 cases were filed in courts in the first seven months of 2014.
In the campaign against wanted persons, 444 were served with 628 arrest warrants, he said. He added that the 119 anti-gambling operations they have conducted so far resulted in the arrest of 125 persons. (PNA)
