By CESAR JOLITO III
Operatives of the Police Regional Office in the Negros Island Region (PRO-NIR) arrested a regional-level high-value drug suspect and his alleged accomplice during a buy-bust operation in Negros Occidental’s Victorias City, resulting in the seizure of suspected shabu worth nearly P750,000.
The operation was conducted at Ditching Subdivision in Victorias’ Barangay 5 on Tuesday, February 10.
Authorities confiscated approximately 110 grams of suspected shabu with an estimated standard drug price of P748,000, marking one of the city’s significant anti-drug operations this year.
Arrested were 43-year-old alias “Popi” or “Paupee,” the No. 19 high-value individual on PRO-NIR’s watchlist, and 39-year-old alias “Mar,” identified as a street-level individual.
Police said the two were allegedly operating in connivance in illegal drug activities and are live-in partners.
According to PRO-NIR, “Popi” had been under close police monitoring and was previously targeted in attempted buy-bust operations in 2024 and 2025, which failed due to his evasive tactics.
Fresh intelligence from a confidential informant prompted renewed surveillance by the Victorias City Police Station, eventually leading to the successful operation.
During the buy-bust, police said alias “Popi” handed a heat-sealed sachet of suspected shabu to a poseur-buyer in exchange for marked money, triggering his immediate arrest.
Aside from the buy-bust item, authorities recovered seven additional heat-sealed sachets containing suspected shabu, a knot-tied sachet, a straw scoop, and an improvised tooter with drug residue, P1,000 in marked money, and several non-drug items.
The suspects are now under police custody.
The seized items were properly inventoried while criminal charges for violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 are being prepared against them.
PRO-NIR officials said the operation underscores the police force’s intensified and sustained campaign against illegal drugs in NIR.
“Law enforcement efforts will continue to be strengthened to dismantle drug networks and protect communities,” PRO-NIR said in a statement, stressing that there will be no safe haven for individuals involved in the illegal drug trade./CJ, WDJ