Suspected shabu peddler arrested in PHP1-M Iloilo City drug sting

By Jennifer P. Rendon

A suspected drug peddler is back in jail more than two decades after an earlier drug-related arrest.

The 52-year-old suspect, known by the alias “Boss,” was arrested in a roadside buy-bust operation at Sto. Niño Subdivision in Barangay Bonifacio, Arevalo, Iloilo City, on the early evening of April 5.

Operatives from the Regional Police Drug Enforcement Unit 6, the Police Drug Enforcement Group Special Operations Unit 6, the Regional Intelligence Division 6, and Iloilo City Police Station 6 carried out the operation.

Police said the suspect sold one sachet of suspected shabu worth PHP 13,000 to an undercover operative.

Authorities said they also recovered 12 more sachets of suspected shabu, along with other drug and non-drug items.

Major Marvin Villanueva, deputy chief of RPDEU 6, said the seized drugs weighed about 150 grams and had a standard drug price of PHP 1,020,000.

Villanueva said the suspect had a previous drug-related arrest in 2002.

Police said he was released from incarceration three years later.

He was recently monitored as having returned to the illegal drug trade.

After more than a month of surveillance, police said they confirmed his alleged involvement in illegal drugs.

The suspect is now under police custody and will face charges for alleged violations of Sections 5 and 11, Article II of Republic Act No. 9165, or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.