By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

Anti-drug operatives seized an estimated P2.46 million worth of illegal drugs at Sitio Mahayahay, Barangay Punao, San Carlos City, Negros Occidental, last week.
Police Senior Superintendent Rodolfo Castil, provincial police director, said operatives of the Provincial Drug Enforcement Unit (PDEU), led by Police Senior Inspector Ryan Villasario, in coordination with the San Carlos City Police Station, conducted the operation against two former convicts, identified as 36-year-old Hanjie Alquiza of the said barangay and 24-year-old Charlemagne Mavida of Caballero Extension, Barangay 2.
Seized from the possession of Alquiza were four sachets of shabu, drug paraphernalia, the P2,500 marked money, and a .22 caliber revolver with seven units of live ammunition; while Mavida yielded two sachets of shabu.
The recovered illegal drugs weighed 246 grams and was said to be worth P2.46 million.
Both suspects face charges in violation of Section 5 (the sale of dangerous drugs), 11 (possession of dangerous drugs), and 12 (possession of drug paraphernalia) of Republic Act 9165, or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.
Castil added, Alquiza had previously been convicted of attempted homicide; while Mavida was convicted for robbery and had been released from jail last month./WDJ