POLICE arrested six drug suspects, including three high-value targets, and seized nearly P4 million worth of shabu during three separate buy-bust operations across Iloilo on Tuesday, July 14, 2026.
The coordinated anti-narcotics stings yielded approximately 585 grams of standard price illegal drugs valued at P3,978,000, according to Police Brigadier General Randulf Tuaño, acting regional director of the Police Regional Office in Western Visayas.
"This accomplishment demonstrates the value of sustained intelligence monitoring, close coordination, and decisive police action," Tuaño said. "These dangerous substances could have caused immeasurable harm to lives and families had they remained in circulation."
The largest haul occurred at 2:33 p.m. in Barangay Balabago, Jaro District, Iloilo City, where regional drug operatives arrested a 39-year-old high-value individual identified only by the alias Agi.
Police recovered 11 plastic sachets and five knot-tied bags containing about 300 grams of shabu worth P2,040,000. Agi had been under surveillance for nearly a month for his alleged distribution network stretching across Iloilo City and Iloilo Province.
Earlier that morning, provincial police units struck targets in two separate towns less than an hour apart.
At 9:20 a.m., personnel from the Leganes Municipal Police Station arrested an engineering target identified as Jomar, 39, in Barangay Calaboa, Leganes. Authorities confiscated 50 grams of suspected shabu valued at P340,000.
At 10:08 a.m., the Iloilo Police Provincial Office Drug Enforcement Unit raided a location in Barangay Zone 2, Estancia. The operation resulted in the arrest of Rob, 46, a security guard classified as a high-value individual, alongside three street-level suspects.
The secondary suspects were identified as Win, 25, a local fisherman; Edgar, 72, a driver from nearby Balasan; and Rod, 44, a fisherman from Victorias City, Negros Occidental.
Operatives in the Estancia bust confiscated 235 grams of shabu worth P1,598,000 across five heat-sealed plastic sachets.
All six suspects are held in police custody and face criminal charges for violating Republic Act 9165, also known as the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002. (Leo Solinap)