ILLEGAL DRUGS CAMPAIGN. San Jose de Buenavista Municipal Police Station chief Major Geremy Ian Magbanua says intensified operations since January yielded PHP1.4 million shabu. In an interview Tuesday (March 19, 2024), he said they focus their campaign on drug suppliers. (PNA photo by Annabel Consuelo J. Petinglay)
SAN JOSE DE BUENAVISTA, Antique –Intensified anti-drug operations in this capital town of Antique from the start of year to date resulted in the arrest of five suspects and confiscation of 200 grams of shabu valued at PHP1.4 million.
“We have focused our campaign jointly with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) on suppliers or high-value individuals to make sure that we could reduce the supply of illegal drugs in the municipality," San Jose de Buenavista Municipal Police Station chief Maj. Geremy Ian Magbanua in an interview on Tuesday.
The focus is on the suppliers instead of small-time retailers or drug pushers.
Negros Occidental and Iloilo were the identified sources of the illegal substance.
Shabu's prevailing street price in Antique is PHP7,000 per gram, Magbanua said.
Meanwhile, the San Jose de Buenavista police apprehended 43-year-old Elarde Villar, a tricycle driver and resident of Barangay Madrangca, who stabbed dead Indian national Avtar Sivia, 36, on March 17.
Sivia was driving a motorcycle when waylaid by the suspect along Capadocia Street corner Salvani Subdivision without any apparent reason or provocation and stabbed twice.
He was declared dead on arrival at Angel Salazar Memorial General Hospital. (PNA)
