By Aaron Recuenco
More than half of the drugs syndicates operating in Metro Manila and nearby provinces have already been busted but new drug syndicates would always surface to replace a group that would be neutralized.
National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) Director Guillermo Eleazar (FEDERICO CRUZ / MANILA BULLETIN)
Chief Supt. Guillermo Eleazar, director of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO), said the emergence of new drug players only proved the President Duterte’s statement of the illegal drugs situation in the country.
Yesterday, Eleazar said they were able to confiscate some P47 million worth of shabu following the arrest of a big-time drug pusher in San Andres Bukid in Manila at 4 a.m.
He identified the arrested suspect as Joshir Bernardo who was collared after selling a kilo of shabu to a police poseur buyer in Barangay 779 in Zone 57 of San Andres Bukid.
“During the search, our operatives found additional six big plastics containing shabu. The street value of the confiscated drugs was at P47,600,000,” said Eleazar.
A background check disclosed that the arrested suspect was connected to Bernardo drug ring which was busted in a police operation in Metro Manila in 2016.
The Bernardo drug syndicate, according to Eleazar, operates in Metro Manila and in some provinces of Southern Tagalog region.
Its head, Loloy Hernandez, is currently detained at the Metro Manila jail in Taguig.
Police intelligence reports revealed that while leaders of drug syndicates are arrested, some of them continue to operate using a cellular phone being sneaked inside their detention facility.
Other busted syndicates, on the other hand, would continue to operate through its remnants.
“As far as we are concerned, we have already busted more than half of what used to be operating in Metro Manila. But in some cases, new drug players would begin to operate,” said Eleazar.
According to him, PNP will continue to be aggressive in the campaign against illegal drugs since such reality reflects the drug situation in the country.
The Duterte administration has launched an aggressive anti-drug campaign since July 1 in 2016 which has so far led to the death of more than 4,200 illegal drugs personalities in police operations.
Thousands more illegal drugs personalities are believed to have been killed by vigilante groups.