Ex-convict caught with PHP1.36 million shabu in Iloilo

By Jennifer P. Rendon

A 24-year-old ex-convict was arrested for the third time in a police anti-drug operation on the night of July 21 in Mandurriao, Iloilo City.

Alias Kirby was apprehended during a buy-bust operation followed by the execution of a search warrant at his residence in Barangay Bolilao, Mandurriao.

Officers from the Iloilo City Police Station 10 arrested him after he sold a sachet of suspected shabu worth PHP5,000 to an undercover operative.

Police then searched the suspect’s house, where his live-in partner, their one-month-old baby, and his mother also reside.

Authorities recovered 39 sachets of suspected shabu and several non-drug-related items.

Capt. Val Cambel, chief of Police Station 10, said the seized drugs weighed around 200 grams and had an estimated street value of PHP1.36 million.

Cambel confirmed that this was already Kirby’s third drug-related arrest.

His first arrest occurred when he was still a minor.

He was released from jail but soon returned to illegal drug activities, police said.

Investigators believe the suspect sourced his supply from a local drug dealer.

Kirby is now in police custody and will be charged with violating Republic Act 9165, or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.