AT LEAST 10 suspected drug personalities were arrested in a joint operation of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and Philippine National Police (PNP) in a span of two days in Eastern Visayas.
In Eastern Samar, authorities dismantled an alleged drug den and arrested six persons in a drug bust in Barangay Sulangan, Guiuan on Monday, February 25.
PDEA Regional Director Edgar Jubay, along with the Guiuan police, identified the suspects as Alex Risos, 41; Aniceto Balbuena, 23; Ivan Lawrence Serrano, 30; Nick Catorce, 22; Rudy Loyola, 23; and Noriel Gigata, 21.
Police confiscated seven pieces of folded paper with dried leaves, seeds and twigs suspected to be marijuana, weighing 7.0 grams with an estimated market value of P840; drug paraphernalia; and eight pot cultivation seedlings of marijuana.
In Tacloban City, anti-drug elements caught a newly identified drug personality in Barangay 109-A V and G Subdivision on the same day.
Confiscated from the suspect Jeffrey Macaso, 37, were 21 pieces of heat-sealed transparent plastic sachet containing white crystalline substance believed to be shabu weighing 100 grams and with an estimated market value of P680,000.
Authorities in Naval, Biliran also busted Dranreb Yu, 38, a newly identified drug personality, on February 25.
Confiscated from Yu were five pieces of "shabu" weighing 0.35 gram and worth P2,380.
The PDEA and PNP also arrested a member of the Philippine Army named Agapito Antonio, 32, and Ronnel Acera, 31, in Maulong, Catbalogan City, Samar on February 24.
Authorities recovered three pieces of "shabu' weighing 0.21 gram and with an estimated value of P1,500, as well as drug paraphernalia.
The suspects are facing various drug charges. (SunStar Philippines)