THE Police Regional Office 11 bagged 627 illegal drug suspects in the 463 anti-illegal drug operations conducted during the first quarter of the year.
The figure is almost twice of last year’s first quarter, which had only 326. Brig. Gen. Marcelo Morales, police regional director, said 147 of the 627 arrested suspects were on the drug watch list. Most of the suspects were arrested in Davao City, the region’s capital, where majority of the operations were conducted. The Davao City Police Office netted 317 suspects out of the 256 operations conducted. It is followed by Davao del Norte Police Provincial Office with 192 arrests out of 90 drug operations; Davao Oriental PPO with 45 arrests out of 36 operations; Compostela Valley PPO with 43 arrests out of 48 operations; Davao del Sur PPO with 26 arrests out of 29 operations and Davao Occidental PPO with four arrests out of four operations. Morales said the drug operations bagged a total of 39,000 grams of cocaine with an estimated market value of P215 million, 592 grams of shabu with an estimated value of P7.104 million and 16,286 grams of marijuana with an estimated value of P651,440.
Last February 24 and 25, seven bricks of cocaine were recovered at the seaside of Davao Oriental. Morales said the cocaine recovery is still under investigation. “Up to now, we are still on the process of investigating and monitoring this incident, guarding especially our coastal areas as we will not allow these drug syndicates to penetrate our country with these contrabands that can affect everybody’s lives,” he added.
Also during the first quarter of the year, 19 suspects were killed in the operations as they allegedly opted to fight the police operatives. Even government officials were not spared in the relentless campaign on illegal drugs. Manay (Davao Oriental) Councilor Levy Joe Lumand, 40, married, was arrested for illegal drugs worth P15,000, aside from firearms, ammunitions, and explosives during a raid.
A police corporal formerly assigned at IGACOS police station in Davao Del Norte, is also subjected to a manhunt as he escaped a checkpoint in Mati City on January 4. Police later recovered a sachet of shabu, two empty transparent cellophanes with residue shabu, one electronic pocket weighing scale, a wooden pipe for marijuana used, three bamboo sealers, a rolled foil, among others, in his abandoned vehicle, a Montero Sports, in Lawaan Street, Barangay Central, Mati City.
Morales said they do not tolerate any irregularity among its ranks. “We shall continue ridding our ranks of bad eggs and scalawags,” he said.
