Philippine National Police Acting Provincial Director Sr. Supt. Henry Biñas has said that the supply of shabu in Negros Oriental may have gone up over the past weeks.
Sr. Supt. Biñas said an indicator would be the weekend confiscation of some P3.8 million worth of suspected shabu and the arrest of an alleged Level 1 illegal drugs courier in Dumaguete City by joint operatives of the PNP and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency.
According to Biñas, those involved in the illegal drugs trade may have been complacent over the past weeks in peddling large volumes of shabu here after the PNP’s Project Double Barrel/Oplan TokHang campaign had been stopped.
But even during that period of the absence of police anti-illegal drugs operations, PNP personnel and the PDEA here were constantly monitoring the activities of the so-called drug personalities, he pointed out.
That is why at around 5:50 p.m. last Saturday, the PDEA-led joint operation with the PNP resulted in the arrest of Genaro Rayoso Amorin, Jr. of Colon Extension, Barangay Taclobo in Dumaguete City, from whom an estimated one kilo of suspected shabu was confiscated.
In that incident, an entrapment operation was set up against Amorin for violation of Sec. 5 of Republic Act 9165 or the Dangerous Drugs Act, a police report said.
During the joint PDEA and PNP operation, operatives confiscated one piece of sealed transparent plastic pack containing an estimated one kilogram of suspected shabu from Amorin, who was under close surveillance by law enforcement agents.
Sr. Supt. Biñas reiterated that the shabu supply here has gone up during the time that the PNP halted its anti-illegal drugs operations and PDEA took over but the latter had limitations due to lack of manpower.
Now that the PNP has restored its anti-illegal drugs operations, Sr. Supt. Biñas said they will continue going after those that have already been previously identified as engaged in the nefarious trade.
Biñas disclosed that there are major players behind the large supply of shabu in Negros Oriental although they are not based here.
The illegal drugs trade is a vicious cycle where there is immediate replacement by the “lieutenants” when a high value target has been neutralized, he added.
Meanwhile, Sr. Supt. Biñas announced that the PNP Provincial Office will be holding a refresher course this week on anti-illegal drugs operations.
Biñas, a lawyer, highlighted the need for police personnel assigned to the newly-created Police Drug Enforcement Unit to undergo refresher on jurisprudence, certain laws, and certain procedures.
The PDEU has replaced the former Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Group of the PNP.
The police personnel assigned to the PDEU are also subjected to rigid screening and background check, Biñas added. (JFP)
