By Teofilo Garcia, Jr.
ZAMBOANGA CITY – Authorities have discovered illegal “shabu” drugs worth PHP68 million hidden in a compartment of an impounded three-wheeled vehicle following a law enforcement operation in Zamboanga del Sur province, police said Wednesday.
Major Jason Ray Gomera, chief of the Zamboanga del Sur Highway Patrol Team, said in a report that the illegal drugs were discovered during the conduct of their Technical Inspection Inventory Report (TIIR) around 6:20 p.m. Tuesday.
The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and the Philippine National Police Drug Enforcement Group (PDEG) were immediately called in after the discovery of 10 plastic packs containing the illegal stuff hidden under the driver’s seat of a rear-engine, three-wheeled vehicle locally known as “bao-bao”.
“Upon the inventory conducted by PDEG in the presence of media and barangay officials, it was found out that there are 10 packs of alleged shabu with a street value of PHP68 million,” Gomera said in his report.
He said the vehicle was impounded after its driver, alias Abdullah, failed to present documents when flagged down in a checkpoint operation along the national highway in Barangay Buenavista, Pagadian City, Zamboanga del Sur.
Abdullah was flagged for the initial violation of unauthorized modification of the vehicle he was driving while traveling from Malangas, Zamboanga del Sur, to Cotabato City. The suspect never returned to claim his “bao-bao”.
Gomera said the confiscated drugs were turned over to the PDEG for proper disposition.
Meanwhile, the PDEA has arrested alias Jimwen, 33, a high-value target, in an anti-drug operation over the weekend in Barangay Tuburan, Pagadian City. Seized from Jimwen were PHP170,000 worth of suspected shabu. (PNA)
