By Tara Yap
Iloilo City - The Philippine National Police (PNP) announced it has confiscated P491 million worth of illegal drugs in the Western Visayas region over a two-year period.
Police Lieutenant Colonel Joem Malong, Police Regional Office (PRO-6) spokesperson, said that shabu (methamphetamine) accounted for the bulk of the seizures, with 39,884.15 grams worth P478.6 million seized between December 5, 2017, and November 4 of this year,.
The PNP in Aklan, Antique, Capiz, Guimaras, Iloilo, and Negros Occidental provinces, as well as the highly urbanized cities of Iloilo and Bacolod, seized 24,839.66 grams of marijuana worth P12.4 million.
The Bacolod City Police Office collected the biggest values of shabu and marijuana, at P239.6 million and P6.2 million respectively.
Even before the year-end, PRO-6 exceeded its target when it seized P166.4 million worth of illegal drugs, consisting of P162.7 million worth of shabu and P3.7 million worth of marijuana.
Regarding anti-drug operations, PRO-6 units nabbed 44 percent of the suspects on the drug list. Out of the 3,481 drug personalities, the police arrested 1,554.
Another 1,040 people voluntarily surrendered while 21 of the drug suspects died during police operations.