Police in Talisay net 28 persons for illegal drugs

CEBU, Philippines - The police in Talisay City, in their no-nonsense campaign against illegal drugs, arrested 28 individuals last year from this number, 12 were accosted in separate buy-bust operations, three in raids with search warrants, and 13 in saturation drives.

All the 28 suspects, 15 are alleged pushers while 13 are users, are now facing criminal charges in regional trial courts.

On the other hand, the police have also arrested eight individuals engaged in illegal gambling, six of them have already been charged.

The police are proud to note that not one of these eight cases has to do with the illegal video karera machines, which had been one of its biggest problems in the past years.

Under the leadership of Supt Henry Binas, the police have arrested 60 "Most Wanted Persons (MWP)" under the "Station Level" last year.

All those arrested had pending warrants of arrest issued by the courts.

The campaign against loose firearms or Oplan Paglalansag as dictated by Presidential Decree 1866 has also led to the fall of seven persons in separate operations conducted by the same police force.

At least 10 high-powered firearms -- five of which are .45 caliber pistols, two.357 caliber revolvers, two.9mm pistols, and a submachine gun -- were seized.

Police also recovered one .22 caliber pistol and one .38 caliber revolver.

The fight against illegal logging has also led to the arrest of seven persons, but only three were charged.

Based on the Comparative Crime Statistic of the city police from January 1, 2009 to December 31, it has listed 691 crime volume, which dropped to 619 last year.

The city's index crime in 2009 also recorded 495, but nosedived to 472 in 2010.

Composing index crimes are murder, theft, rape, robbery, physical injury, and homicide.

The city's 2009 record for its non-index crime, from 196, it also dropped to 142 last year.

Non-index crimes include illegal drugs, illegal gambling, and violation of environment and special laws. (FREEMAN)