A top drug personality in Western Visayas, who yielded P1.72 million in suspected shabu, was arrested during a buy-bust in Bacolod City’s Barangay Vista Alegre yesterday, a report from the Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO) showed.

The suspect, 27-year-old Justin Da-anoy Gayoso, is included in the regional priority target list of the Philippine National Police.

Minutes before 3:00 a.m., Gayoso sold a sachet of suspected shabu for P2,000 to a poseur-buyer of the BCPO-City Drug Enforcement Unit at his house in Purok Progreso Village II.

“This accomplishment is a result of the strengthened campaign of the Police Regional Office-Western Visayas [PRO-6] on the war against illegal drugs through intelligence-driven operations in Bacolod as well as the support of the community,” Brigadier General Sidney Villaflor, regional director of PRO-6, said in a statement.

Operatives seized from Gayoso eight plastic sachets and two plastic bags of suspected shabu, weighing 253 grams and priced at P6,800 per gram.

Police records show the suspect was first arrested in 2017 also for violation of Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, but was released through a plea bargain in 2020.

The operation came two days after operatives of San Carlos City Police Station in northern Negros Occidental seized more than two kilos of suspected shabu valued at P13.7 million during a buy-bust in Barangay Palampas.

The suspects were identified as 34-year-old John Valentin Remegio of Barangay Caingin in Iloilo City’s

La Paz District; and 27-year-old Crismark Blancaflor of Barangay Poblacion in Iloilo province’s Bingawan town.

During a meet-up in Hacienda Sta. Ana on Wednesday, August 30, they sold P10,000 worth of suspected shabu to an undercover policeman and yielded three plastic sachets and two plastic sachets of suspected shabu, weighing 2,015 grams. (PNA)