JEFFREY “Jaguar” Diaz reportedly started small in the illegal drug trade.

His rise to the top started in 2010 after he established connection with the “main source” of shabu in the country, according to a high-ranking police official.

Police Regional Office 7 Director Patrocinio Comendador Jr., though, did not reveal the main source’s identity.

Contributing to Diaz’s rise was his willingness to sell shabu at a cheaper price.

“He was undercutting competition that was why he was able to beat his competitors,” Comendador said in Cebuano.

Meanwhile, the police official said a new leader might replace Diaz, who was killed in a shootout in Las Piñas City last Friday night.

“His death created a vacuum. The tendency is someone will fill it,” he said in Cebuano.

Intelligence reports

However, he said they’re not afraid if someone replaces Diaz. In fact, it should be the other way around. “Sila mismo dapat mahadlok mopuli (They should be afraid to replace him),” he told reporters yesterday.

Based on intelligence reports, the group, which has three factions, has not chosen a new leader because it is too busy finding the person who betrayed Diaz, the most-wanted drug lord operating in Central Visayas.

Diaz was arrested in 2006 and was convicted by a lower court in Cebu for drug possession.

He already served his sentence at the National Bilibid Prison, but the Court of Appeals reversed the lower court’s decision in 2010.

Diaz established contacts during his stay in prison.

Expansion

His organization has no formal structure, but it has several subgroups spread in Cebu City and Cebu Province.

“He went to expand to other areas as well, in Bohol, Region 8, Region 6, and Metro Manila,” said Comendador.

He said the complaints filed against Diaz after shabu worth P4 million was recovered from his house in Barangay Duljo-Fatima, Cebu City were resolved by the prosecutor’s office and elevated to court.

Operatives from the Regional Intelligence Division 7 and Regional Special Operations Group 7 chanced upon Diaz and his bodyguard Paul Vincent Morales in Las Piñas City when they were tracking down suspected drug lord Alvaro “Barok” Alvaro.

An insider helped police track down Alvaro and Diaz.

Diaz and Morales were killed in the shootout that ensued, while Alvaro eluded arrest.