P40.8 million shabu seized in Iloilo

ILOILO CITY, Philippines — Police seized shabu with an estimated street value of P40.8 million, said to be the biggest illegal drug haul in the province this year, in a sting in Janiuay town yesterday.

Miklyn Acosta was arrested in Sitio Siga-Siga, Barangay Don T. Lutero East at around 7:33 a.m.

Members of the Regional Police Drug Enforcement Unit (RPDEU) in Western Visayas, Janiuay police and the 603rd Company of the Regional Mobile Force Battalion said Acosta was arrested after handing a sachet of shabu worth P26,000.

Anti-narcotics operatives said they transacted with Acosta’s cohort Jaymark Biare.

Capt. Glenn Soliman, RPDEU-6 team leader, said Biare managed to escape.

Soliman said six kilos of shabu and digital weighing scales were among the items recovered from Acosta’s house.

Police said Acosta had no previous arrest and is believed to have been drawn into the illegal drug trade because of her drug use.

Soliman said the suspect was working for an Iloilo City-based drug pusher, who  had connections with an inmate in the New Bilibid Prison.

He said law enforcers had monitored that drug dealers would bring a large supply of shabu to the province in time for Christmas and the Dinagyang Festival.

Soliman said Acosta and Biare were with the same group of drug dealers arrested for possession of P20.4 million worth of shabu in Iloilo City on Nov. 9.