PHILIPPINE Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) has tightened security measures on all seaports and airports in Negros Occidental province against possible entry of shabu.
The move was done to counter methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu entry as traders are taking advantage of the Panaad Sa Negros festival celebration.
“We receive fillers from our informants that shabu are entering into the province this week,” said PDEA provincial officer Cirilo Baluma.
Baluma said the shabu stack could possibly gain entry through land transport via Dumaguete City in Negros Oriental from Cebu, Mindanao and Manila.
Meanwhile, two politicians from the province, a reelectionist and an incumbent, are on the watchlist of PDEA.
Baluma, however, refused to divulge their identities as they had been under surveillance by PDEA.
In another development, Baluma said Xavier Louis Rosales, 38, might be transferred to the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology in the province once the court issues a commitment order.
“It could be this week (Rosales transfer),” he said.
Rosales, a resident of Gardenia Street in Barangay Mansilingan, Bacolod City, has been detained for custody under the Silay City police station since his arrest last March 8 around 7 p.m.
He was caught transporting the stack of shabu weighed at 90 grams, with an estimated street value of P700,000 aboard Cebu Pacific Flight 5J from Manila to Bacolod City.
Rosales was charged for violating Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.
Recovered from Rosales were four big sachets of shabu stacked inside packs of biscuits as well as the suspect’s multicab vehicle.
Aviation police and local policemen led by Police Inspector Jesus Mesahon Jr. collared Rosales after inspectors detected illegal drugs from Rosales’ travelling bag during x-ray check.