CEBU, Philippines - As the Dinagyang Festival nears, members of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-Region 6 arrested a suspected drug pusher on a buy-bust operation Thursday evening at a hotel at the City Proper, Iloilo City.
PDEA-6 regional director Ronnie Delicana identified the suspect as Pete John Biclar, 34, of Barotac Viejo, Iloilo.
PDEA-6 operatives recovered from Biclar’s possession 24.21 grams of suspected shabu with an estimated street value of P208,000.
Before he got collared, Biclar agreed to deal with a poseur buyer, but he initially wanted the transaction to take place at Brgy. Bakhaw in Mandurriao district, where his supplier supposedly resided. The poseur buyer however rejected the idea and insisted that they would just meet somewhere else. Biclar then agreed to deliver the shabu to the hotel where the operation took place.
Delicana said the suspect was arrested even before the deal was consummated. “We ask him if he had something with him. When he showed it to our operatives, we immediately collared him,†he said.
After Biclar’s arrest, PDEA operatives conducted a follow-up operation to arrest the alleged shabu distributor, but the latter was no longer at the supposed drug den in Bakhaw.
Instead, four persons who were believed to be under the influence of illegal drugs were invited for questioning instead and are now under the custody of PDEA-6, said Delicana, adding that Biclar is now detained pending the filing of drugs charges against the suspect.
Delicana believed that there could be an increase of supply of illegal drugs with the coming of the Dinagyang Festival. “That’s what we are trying to avert – the flow of illegal drugs that would enter Iloilo,†he said.
He further vowed to conduct more aggressive campaign against illegal drugs in the coming days. (FREEMAN)