P1.65 billion shabu seized in Cavite sting

CAMP VICENTE LIM, Laguna, Philippines — About 240 kilos of shabu with an estimated street value of P1.65 billion were seized during a sting that resulted in the arrest of two alleged large-scale drug traffickers in Dasmariñas, Cavite on Saturday afternoon.

Wilfredo Blanco, 37, and his companion Megan Lemon Pedroro, 38, both of Montalban, Rizal, are considered high-value targets in the police drug list, according to Brig. Gen. Eliseo Cruz, Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon)  police director.

The suspects were collared after they reportedly sold illegal drugs to undercover agents of the Philipine National Police (PNP) and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) at the parking lot of a restaurant located along Aguinaldo Highway in Barangay Salitran 2.

Police said the suspects yielded 240 kilos of shabu placed in several plastic sachets and a van used in transporting the drugs.

Blanco and Pedroro are detained at the PDEA jail facility in Calabarzon.

Charges of violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act are being readed against the suspects.

The sting was part of a series of anti-drug operations that started with the seizure last month of P3.4 billion worth of shabu in Zambales, and more than P1-billion drugs in follow-up operations in Bataan and Cavite, according to PNP chief Gen. Guillermo Eleazar.

The stings were conducted through the coordinated efforts of the PNP, PDEA, National Intelligence Coordinating Agency, Bureau of Customs and the Armed Forces of the Philippines, Eleazar said.

He commended all police personnel who were part of the operations. – Neil Jayson Servallos, Emmanuel Tupas