A total of 8,117 individuals in Western Visayas were arrested for various offenses as a result of the Police Regional Office 6 (PRO-6) anti-criminality operations from January 1 to June 15.

This was revealed by PRO-6 Regional Operations Division Chief Police Colonel Gilbert T. Gorero during his report at the 2024 2nd Quarter Peace and Order Council VI meeting held in Iloilo City last week.

The bulk of the arrests came from the campaign against wanted persons, which totaled to around 2,835 individuals, of which 489 were most wanted and 2,346 were other wanted persons.

Gorero said that PRO-6’s campaign against wanted persons had resulted in bringing 2,346 more cases to be litigated in the courts.

The second top most number of arrests came from the campaign of PRO-6 against illegal gambling, where 2,224 were nabbed and around P879,386 bet money were confiscated as a result of 690 operations.

During the period, Gorero added that PRO-6 efforts against illegal drugs have resulted in the recovery of a total of 37,284.037 grams of shabu and 20,251 grams of marijuana and the arrest of 1,486 drug personalities, composed of 275 high value individuals, 1,121 street level individuals and 90 newly identified drug personalities, as a result of 1,146 operations.

This was followed by 397 operations conducted against illegal fishing which resulted in the arrest of 1,138 individuals and the confiscation of a total of P1,116,910 worth of fish and P100,066,140 worth of fishing paraphernalia.

PRO-6 also caught a total of 340 for loose firearm violations and 94 for illegal cutting of trees.

During the meeting, Gorero reminded members of the council that crime prevention is everyone’s concern. (PIA-6)