ILOILO CITY – The Police Regional Office-6 is looking into new drug groups that may be operating in Western Visayas.
POLICE Regional Office-6 chief Police Brig. Gen. Jack Wanky (right) welcomes Police Brig. Gen. Flynn Dongbo, deputy director of the Directorate for Research and Development, in Camp Delgado, Iloilo City on June 24. Dongbo was a former PRO-6 chief. (PNP/PRO-6/RPIO-6)
PRO-6 chief Police Brig. Gen. Jack Wanky confirmed that the Regional Intelligence Division is determining the link of newly caught drug suspects to new major groups.
“We are trying to find out if they are connected to a syndicated group or if they operate independently,” said Wanky.
Several newly identified drug suspects yielded big volume of drugs in operations conducted in this city and province of Iloilo.
Wanky reiterated there is a possibility these new suspects belong to a group as they were not divulging any information when they were interrogated.
The deaths of Iloilo-based alleged drug lords Melvin “Boyet” Odicta Sr. and Richard “Buang” Prevendido were considered to have ended the illegal drug trade in Western Visayas during the Duterte administration.
Then President Rodrigo Duterte dubbed Iloilo City as “shabulized” in reference to shabu or crystal meth.
Wanky is awaiting the report of the Regional Intelligence Division.
The PRO-6 seized almost P30.5-million worth of shabu during 176 anti-drug operations across the region from June 1 to 22. A total of 237 drug suspects were arrested who yielded 4,484 grams of shabu.