By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga
The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) in Negros Occidental yesterday said they were already aware that a P20.4-million shabu shipment was bound for Bacolod City on Monday, January 24.
PCG-Negros Occidental station commander and deputy commander for Coast Guard District Western Visayas, Captain Ludovico Librilla, said the illegal drugs were already detected while the suspects were still aboard the roll-on/roll-off (roro) vessel at the Dumangas Port in Iloilo.
It was then decided that the interception will be made instead at the BREDCO Port in Bacolod City, with authorities from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) also called in to deploy their own K-9 units.
Librilla said it is also possible that the OR-CR used by the suspects was different when they parked their car inside the roro vessel.
Both suspects originated from Metro Manila and rode a vessel in Batangas heading to Caticlan in Aklan.
The suspects then traveled by land to Dumangas town in Iloilo.
The PCG chief of the province also thanked and congratulated the PDEA agents and the Coast Guard Special Operation Unit-Western Visayas for the highly successful operation.
Meanwhile, Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office (NOCPPO) spokesperson, Police Lt. Abegael Donasco, said they have yet to receive any information from PDEA as to where the illegal drug shipment was ultimately bound.
Earlier, Police Captain Paul Vincent Pendon of the Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO) Station 2 said the illegal drugs are believed to be either sold off or distributed to other drug suspects both in the province and in the city.
However, Donasco said they will check the backgrounds of the suspects identified as Aslanie Desomangcop Usman, a resident of Lopez Jaena St. in the city’s Barangay 31; and Mohammad Ambulo, a resident of Villa Angela Subdivision in Barangay Villamonte.
The two suspects, now classified as “high-value drug targets,” are now under PDEA custody and facing charges for violating the Republic Act 9165, or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002./DGB, WDJ