Teen, two others yield P4-M worth of ‘shabu’

By Glazyl Y. Masculino

BACOLOD City – Operatives of the Police Drug Enforcement Group (PDEG)-Special Operations Unit (SOU)-6 seized about 600 grams of suspected shabu worth P4,080,000 from a teenage student and two others at Hacienda San Lucas, Barangay Hilamonan, Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental yesterday.

Arrested were Lykey Vina, 38; Cherry Tuazon, 35, and a 19-year-old student, all residents of Barangay Sta. Elena, Iligan City, Lanao Del Norte.

Accordingly, Tuazon was the subject of the operation and her group has been under monitoring for months already, according to Police Lieutenant Colonel Roberto Indiape Jr., city police chief.

Indiape said that some of the recovered illegal drugs were found concealed inside a stuffed toy, while others were confiscated from their alleged rented car. Police also recovered from them the P111,000 marked money.

Based on the information, Indiape said the suspects would travel from one place to another to allegedly deliver the illegal drugs, which police believed to be sourced out from Mindanao.

He added that the suspects might have also delivered illegal drugs here. They will also investigate if the seizure of more than P4 million worth of suspected shabu here and in San Carlos City last week could be linked to this operation.

Indiape said that he has no idea how long these suspects have been staying in the province. He said they would usually check in to hotels or pension houses, as they do not stay long in one place.

Police are also probing the background of the suspects to determine if they have previous cases or offenses. The three suspects will be charged for sale and illegal possession of dangerous drugs, according to the police chief.

The operation was also in coordination with the Regional Intelligence Unit (RIU)-6, and the Integrity Monitoring Enforcement Group (IMEG) Visayas Field Unit.