EVIDENCE. Operatives of Bacolod City Police Office City Drug Enforcement Unit arrest Marlon Coral Pango, a member of the Caunda Drug Group, in a buy-bust at his residence in Purok Pilipinhon, Barangay 30 on Thursday (Nov. 23, 2023). The suspect yielded 640 grams of shabu worth PHP4.352 million. (Photo courtesy of Bacolod City Police Office)
BACOLOD CITY – Anti-drug operatives of Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO) seized PHP5.032 million worth of suspected shabu and arrested two suspects in separate buy-bust operations Wednesday night and Thursday morning.
Marlon Coral Pango, reportedly a member of the Caunda Drug Group, the lone drug ring operating in the city, was apprehended around 1:48 a.m. Thursday after selling PHP10,000 worth of suspected shabu to undercover policemen at his residence in Purok Pilipinhon, Barangay 30.
The suspect, tagged by the police as a high-value individual (HVI), also yielded eight plastic bags and eight sachets of shabu weighing 640 grams.
Pegged at PHP6,800 per gram, the seized illegal drugs amounted to PHP4.352 million.
Lt. Col. Ronnie Brillo, administrative officer and BCPO spokesperson, said the operation conducted by the City Drug Enforcement Unit (CDEU) and the City Intelligence Unit (CIU) was a result of weeks of intelligence monitoring.
“The subject can be found in the organizational chart of the Caunda Drug Group. His name is on the drugs watchlist,” he said in a radio interview.
Brillo said he directed the CIU to conduct a background investigation on Pango, who reportedly to have been previously arrested for a drug-related case.
The suspect is now detained at Police Station 6.
Meanwhile, Rodney Nuñez Benedicto, also an HVI, was arrested by personnel of Police Station 2 at his residence in Purok Pilit 2, Barangay 6, at around 6:53 p.m. Wednesday,
He sold PHP15,000 worth of shabu to a police poseur-buyer, the report said.
Operatives also found in his possession 20 big transparent plastic sachets containing the same prohibited substance, weighing 100 grams at a standard drug price of PHP680,000.
Charges for violation of Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs of 2002 are being readied against the two suspects. (PNA)
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