P72M shabu seized in Negros Occidental drug bust

BACOLOD CITY – Authorities seized at least P72 million worth of shabu in a drug bust operation on Wednesday in San Carlos City, Negros Occidental.

Although it was the biggest drug haul in Western Visayas in decades, no one was arrested in the operation in Barangay Palampas, San Carlos.

The three sellers, who transacted with an undercover agent, managed to escape to a sugarcane plantation, leaving behind six kilos of shabu, a Skygo single motorcycle and P6.8 million boodle money with P100-bill marked money.

A kilo of shabu has a street market value of P12 million, according to the Dangerous Drugs Board.

Supt. D Artagnan Katalbas, San Carlos City police chief, identified the suspects as Armando Paraquelles and his wife, Josephine, and a certain Potot.

Katalbas said the three were new players in the distribution of shabu in San Carlos and neighboring areas in northern Negros.

This was the second time that police and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) recovered a big volume of shabu in Palampas, San Carlos.

In January, motorcycle-for-rent driver Christian Unabia was arrested after he was caught with more than half a kilo of shabu worth P6.8 million.

Katalbas said drug traffickers used pump boats in transporting illegal drugs to the shorelines of San Carlos and Calatrava from Toledo City in Cebu.

But Cebu has been identified by the PDEA and the police as among the sources of shabu that enter Negros Island.

On Tuesday, at least 120 grams of shabu worth P1.4 million were also seized from two suspects in Bacolod City.

The suspects were identified as Faisalin Ibra, 21, and Norhan Caunda, both from Marawi City. Both were temporarily residing at the Islamic Center, Lopez Jaena Street in Bacolod City./lb