Friday, October 24, 2008 P800,000 in drugs seized By Ernie N. Olson Jr.
APPROXIMATELY P848,733 worth of assorted dangerous drugs were seized and 11 drug personalities were arrested by Baguio City Police Office (BCPO) personnel from January to September this year.
Senior Superintendent Wilfredo Franco, BCPO director, said the bulk of the confiscated illegal drugs was made up of 26,287.12 grams of marijuana with an estimated Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) value of P657,178.
He said these seizures were made through the effort of BCPO Station 2 and Station 10 personnel, as well as operatives of the BCPO Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Group (AIDSOTG).
Other illegal drugs seized during the period included 748.7 grams of hashish or concentrated marijuana resin worth P187,175 and 0.73 gram of shabu or methamphetamine hydrochloride with a DDB value of P4,380.
"Our AIDSOTG operatives have filed 11 cases against 11 persons arrested in separate operations for the period," Franco pointed out.
For the same period last year, only nine persons were arrested in buy-bust operations, five of these were identified as users-pushers, two as users and one as a pusher. Appropriate cases were filed in court against them.
"Statistics show more apprehensions were made from January to September 2008 as compared to same period last year," he said.
Franco said while theft cases have gone up from 126 in 2007 to 287 this year, followed by the number of robbery cases from 42 to 122, the quick response to physical injuries yielded 210 cases as compared to 89 last year.
"Partnership with the community makes the police perform its task in crime prevention better. Trust and confidence has slowly found its way into the heart of the public ever since efforts were continuously being made by the Philippine National Police to show the police force is a dedicated organization in serving and protecting its people," he said.
Franco said with cooperation and participation of the public and the intensification of police-monitoring programs like police visibility, checkpoints, intensified patrolling system and fixed visibility points, more crimes were reported and more persons were apprehended this year.
"Illegal drugs have been a menace in our society for many years now. However, with the identification of drug personalities and the continuous conduct of operations, these persons have been neutralized and illegal drug activities were properly monitored and considerably minimized," he continued.
He said this was done because the public has exercised citizens' arrest against users and pushers, while police have simultaneously conducted buy-bust operations.
