SHABU SEIZED. Operatives of Bacolod City Police Office Police Station 8 seize PHP3.06 million worth of suspected shabu from a suspect during a buy-bust operation in Purok Kahirup, Barangay Singcang-Airport on Saturday night (March 12, 2022). Suspect Joey Piestaño, 30, was jailed for illegal drugs in 2018, but was released after a plea bargain in 2019, police said. (Photo courtesy of Bacolod City Police Office)
BACOLOD CITY – Drug enforcement teams of the Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO) recovered around PHP3.39 million worth of suspected shabu from three individuals in two buy-bust operations over the weekend.
On Sunday, operatives of Police Station 2 arrested two suspects in Purok Lampirong, Barangay 2 after they sold PHP11,500 worth of the prohibited substance to a poseur buyer at around 5:45 a.m.
They were identified as Mark Arevalo, 21, and Jeremy Booc, 20, both residents of the same area.
The suspects yielded one big, one elongated, and seven heat-sealed plastic sachets containing suspected shabu weighing about 41 grams valued at PHP278,800.
Capt. Paul Vincent Pendon, officer-in-charge of Police Station 2, said they monitored the activities of the suspects since last week after they received information from a resident that they are engaged in the illegal drug trade.
On Saturday night, personnel of Police Station 8 apprehended Joey Piestaño, 30, in Purok Kahirup, Barangay Singcang-Airport.
At around 10:40 p.m., Piestaño, a resident of neighboring Purok Neptune, transacted with an undercover policeman for the sale of PHP20,500 worth of shabu place inside a knot-tied transparent plastic bag.
When he was cornered, the suspect also yielded four more knot-tied plastic bags containing the same prohibited substance, weighing 450 grams, with a standard drug price of PHP3.060 million.
Maj. Joery Puerto, chief of Police Station 8, said the recovered items were part of the one-kilo shipment received by the suspect last Thursday, based on the statement of his wife.
He added that Piestaño was jailed for illegal drugs in 2018, but was released after a plea bargain in 2019.
Puerto said the suspect has a contact inside the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City.
They met when he was jailed and the drug personality gives him instructions through video calls, he added.
Charges for violation of Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 are being prepared against the three suspects. (PNA)
