PDEA nabs WV’s 6th most wanted

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines — The sixth most wanted drug personality in Western Visayas was arrested by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-6 operatives during a buy-bust operation Saturday morning in San Carlos City, Negros Occidental.

Suspect Noli Mercado, 40, who is also No. 2 in San Carlos City’s drug watchlist, was arrested while he was selling suspected shabu (methamphetamine hydrochloride) to a poseur-buyer inside his Nissan Sentra vehicle, PDEA-6 regional director Edwin Layese said in a radio interview Saturday.

Layese added that the arrest of Mercado yielded 12 sachets of suspected shabu, with a market value estimated at P180,000, a digital weighing scale, and attaché case. He said they also seized his vehicle.

Layese said that Mercado’s arrest followed an almost week-long surveillance operation that included three test buys.

Layese, who led the weekend operation in coordination with the San Carlos City Police Station headed by Supt. Joseph Bayan, said that after a night-long watch, he sent a poseur-buyer at around 7 a.m. to  buy shabu worth  P2,000 from Mercado. 

The PDEA team started to move towards their target before 8:30 a.m.  and they were able to arrest Mercado around 9 a.m., he said.

Layese said they endorsed Mercado, along with his vehicle, to the custody of the San Carlos Police, which is now preparing the charges to be filed against him. —(FREEMAN)