PHP 1.4 million shabu seized in Lemery, Iloilo drug sting

By Jennifer P. Rendon

More than PHP 1.4 million worth of illegal drugs were seized in a police anti-narcotics operation late in the evening of March 15 in Lemery, Iloilo.

Alias Bobot, 46, a palay and corn agent from Barangay Poblacion, Lemery, was arrested in a buy-bust operation at San Jose village in Lemery.

Members of the Iloilo Police Provincial Office-Provincial Drug Enforcement Unit Team 3 made the arrest after the suspect allegedly sold a sachet of suspected shabu for PHP 13,000.

When he was frisked, police operatives recovered nine more sachets and several nondrug items from the suspect.

Maj. Dadje Delima, IPPO-PDEU chief, said the confiscated illegal drugs weighed approximately 220 grams with an estimated standard drug price of PHP 1,496,000.

Bobot is on the IPPO’s watchlist of illegal drug personalities.

He had been placed on monitoring for more than six months before he was finally arrested on Sunday evening.

Delima described Bobot as a “slippery” high-value drug personality.

When he had no illegal drug supply, he stayed home in Lemery.

But once his supply arrived, he would move to transient homes in Lemery, Ajuy, or Sara, according to Delima.

Reports said Bobot had a previous drug-related arrest and was released from jail in 2021.

Bobot is now detained and will be charged with violation of Republic Act No. 9165, or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.

Under RA 9165, the sale and possession of dangerous drugs carry penalties ranging from life imprisonment to death, depending on the quantity involved.