During the first seven months of 2023, the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) confiscated around 28 kilograms of illegal drugs with a street value of about P190 million.
In an interview with SunStar Cebu, Police Lieutenant Colonel Janette Rafter, deputy director for operations of the CCPO, said they conducted a total of 1,020 drug-related operations from January to July 2023.
These operations led to the arrest of 1,048 individuals.
Rafter said these confiscated drugs did not only come from buy-bust operations but from police responses, and other operations as well.
According to Rafter, illegal substances that were seized may have been found during a search that was carried out after a lawful arrest.This can happen when a person is arrested without a search warrant and may be searched for any dangerous weapons or evidence that may be used to commit a crime.
“You were arrested previously of a different offense only to find out upon [search] na naa kay (that you are in) possession of illegal drugs,” said Rafter.
Rafter said the current street value—the estimated worth of a particular drug when sold in the illegal market—for shabu, is around P6,800 per gram.
“But for marijuana, it’s different. It’s P400 per stock,” said Rafter.
Rafter was unable to provide any information on the conviction rate versus the number of arrested drug personalities in Cebu City when asked for it.
Rafter acknowledged that these cases take a long time to go to trial.
“Let us also understand the courts kay dili ra pud baya ni ang mao’y kaso ilang gunitan (because these are not the only cases they are handling),” said Rafter.
Rafter said possession of illegal drugs below five grams is bailable. However, anything beyond this weight is already non-bailable. (RJM)