P34M worth of ‘shabu’ seized in NegOcc city

By Glazyl Y. Masculino

BACOLOD City – Around 5,000 grams of suspected shabu worth P34 million was seized in a buy-bust at Barangay Old Poblacion, Escalante City, Negros Occidental yesterday.

The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA)-Negros Occidental also arrested Vicente Sepuesca, 42, of Barangay Sum-ag here.

Agent Bamboo, team leader of PDEA-Negros Occidental, said it was only recently that Sepuesca was placed under monitoring, but they were surprised to confiscate huge volume of illegal drugs from him.

Agent Bamboo said Sepuesca just arrived in the province from Cebu on board a sports utility vehicle (SUV) when he was busted by authorities near the seaport.

According to Agent Bamboo, the recovered suspected shabu was sealed in a Chinese tea bag packaging.

He suspected that the contraband may have been shipped from Cebu or the National Capital Region (NCR) since there was no such kind of packaging in the province.

But Agent Bamboo said they continue to probe the source of the contraband.

They also do not discount the possibility that Sepuesca might have a contact inside the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City, but they continue to check his background.

Agent Bamboo cited Sepuesca as saying that he was just asked to get the items and deliver it to someone in the province, after buying some things in Cebu for his house here.

With the huge volume of recovered illegal drugs, Agent Bamboo said that Sepuesca can be considered a high value individual.

Also recovered from him was the P63,100 in fake and marked money.

Sepuesca, who has yet to be reached for comment, is detained at Escalante City Police Station pending the filing of drug charges.

The buy-bust operation was also in coordination with the local police, Philippine Coast Guard, Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office, and Regional Drug Enforcement Unit.