Twin drug busts led to P1.066-M shabu seizure

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By Jennifer P. Rendon

Women power?

More than a million pesos worth of illegal drugs were seized in separate anti-illegal drug operations on Jan. 8 in Iloilo City.

Police were able to arrest Mygelyn Intano, 43, of Zone 2, Barangay Baldoza, La Paz district and Henwen Roque, 30, of Rizal Pala Pala 2, City Proper.

Members of the Iloilo City Police Office-City Drug Enforcement Unit (ICPO-CDEU), together with the Iloilo City Police Station 2, first collared Intano, a newly identified high-value individual (HVI) at around 5:17 p.m. on Monday.

But the woman’s companion, a certain Russel Guevara, managed to evade arrest.

The arrest happened after the suspect sold a sachet of suspected shabu worth P8,000.

Lieutenant Colonel Antonio Benitez Jr., CDEU chief, said the seized drugs weighed around 90 grams and were valued at P612,000.

Benitez said that they received reports of Intano’s alleged illegal drug activities prompting them to do surveillance operations before the buy-bust was done.

But Intano, while admitting to using illegal drugs for several years, denied that she was into drug pushing.

She pointed to another woman from Molo district who supplied her with drugs.

Meanwhile, members of ICPS1 arrested Roque at around 10:55 in the evening in Rizal Pala-Pala village.

She allegedly sold a sachet of suspected shabu for P15,000.

When police frisked Roque, they recovered four more sachets of suspected shabu.

The seized drugs weighed around 70 grams and were valued at P476,000.

Roque was also arrested for the same offense in December 2022. The case’s outcome remains unclear.

Captain Roque Gemino III, ICPS1 chief, said Roque was placed under monitoring since last year. She allegedly sourced her supply from Barangay Desamparados, Jaro.

The suspects are now detained and will be charged with violation of Republic Act 9165 (Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002).