MORE than P20 million worth of illegal drugs were seized in Cebu City and Cebu Province during anti-drug operations last Friday night, May 31, 2019, and at dawn last Saturday, June 1.

Members of the Mambaling Police Station, together with operatives of the Drug Enforcement Unit of the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO), arrested Richard Barbosa, alias Butong, in Sitio Bayutan, Barangay Duljo-Fatima past 9 last Friday night.

They seized from the suspect, a taxi driver, 1.6 kilos of shabu with an estimated value of P11,390,000.

The Mambaling Police Station had placed Barbosa, a high-value target, under surveillance for some time.

Police are still investigating where Barbosa got his supply of shabu. They have some leads, but they need to conduct follow-up operations.

In another operation conducted by the CCPO, operatives seized 789 grams of shabu with an estimated worth of more than P5 million.

The CCPO served 30 warrants of arrest but it only arrested 29 persons, most of whom were facing drug-related cases.

Past 5 a.m. last Saturday, members of the Toledo City Police Station raided a marijuana plantation in Sitio Himatogan, Barangay Captain Claudio.

They uprooted nearly 10,000 fully-grown marijuana plants. According to their estimates, these were valued at P4,000,000.

They arrested Elmer Cantutay Jr., who lives near the plantation. They believed he planted the marijuana.

According to Police Lt. Col. Janette Rafter, Toledo City police chief, they’ve been looking for the plantation for the last two weeks after they received information about its existence from a concerned citizen.

Rafter believes Cantutay has been in the illegal drug business for awhile because of his house.

Of all the houses in Sitio Himatogan, his stood out for being big and for being the most beautiful, Rafter said.

“Kapila nana ma-uprotan dihag marijuana. Katong the other week, naay nag-info namo nga naa napud daw gitanom. Mao tong amoang gipaadtoan og tawo didto, nag-positive man. Mao tong among gipa-identify kinsa ang planter ug gi-monitor pa namo siya (We’ve uprooted marijuana plants in that same area several times. Just the other week, we were told that somebody had planted marijuana again. That was why we sent men to confirm and it was positive. We had the planter identified and had him monitored),” Rafter said.

The seizure of the more than P20 million worth of illegal drugs was part of the synchronized enhanced managing police operation that police in Cebu launched in a 24-hour period. (from AYB of SuperBalita of Cebu/PJB)