By Tara Yap
ILOILO CITY – Anti-drug operatives here seized Sunday at least P18 million worth of shabu from a couple in Dumangas town, Iloilo province.
According to Chief Supt. Cesar Hawthorne Binag, Police Regional Office – 6 director, the haul is one of the biggest in Western Visayas region.
The suspects were identified as Jose Alberto Pinaga and his live-in-partner Maebelle Belmonte, both natives of Silay City, Negros Occidental.
In the subsequent investigation, it was found out the 32-year-old Pinaga and 30-year-old Belmonte have travelled from Batangas via Roll on-Roll off (RoRo) Ports using a rented van. They first stopped at Malay town in Aklan, before heading to the Dumangas Port, where they planned to catch another vessel going back to Negros Occidental.
Police said it was at Dumangas that they chanced upon the couple, who agreed to sell P50,000 worth of shabu to an undercover policeman.
Further search upon their arrest yielded another pack of shabu weighing around one kilo.
Pinaga later on revealed to cops his main contact in Negros Occidental, leading to the arrest of Corazon Vergel, a senior citizen from Bacolod City.
Vergel also yielded shabu worth almost P180,000.