31 drug personalities hunted in Baguio
Police authorities are now conducting massive manhunt operations against thirty-one suspected regional and city high value drug personalities who allegedly sought refuge in certain city barangays.
Police Col. Francisco Bulwayan, City Director of the Baguio City Police Office (BCPO) disclosed that 5 of the 10 regional high value drug personalities are allegedly pursuing their illegal drug trade in the city thus combined police operatives and anti-drug agents are conducting massive operations to neutralize their illegal drug activities.
Further, 7 of the drug personalities listed under the watchlist of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) are also present in some drug-affected city barangays aside from the 6 city high value targets and some street level drug personalities.
The BCPO official pointed out that unrelenting and uncompromising anti-drug operations are being conducted against the regional, city and street level drug personalities as part of the supply and demand reduction campaign of the city police force.
According to him, of the cityโs 128 barangays, only 11 are now undergoing drug clearing because of the presence of the drug personalities operating in these areas.
The police official stipulated that of the 11 drug-affected barangays, 7 had already been submitted for drug clearing while 4 barangays are still subject to validation.
However, 2 barangays failed the said validation because of the continued presence of drug personalities in these communities.
During the start of the aggressive anti-drug operations in 2016, there were some 113 drug affected barangays in the city while there were only 4 barangays that were drug-unaffected at the start of the campaign.
Moreover, there were some 2,554 drug surrenderees who opted to go back to the fold of the law at that time.
Bulwayan said that of the said number of drug surrenderees, 718 underwent the required 6-month community-based rehabilitation program, 253 are now undergoing the same program while 64 dropped out due to alleged relapse, among other reasons.
He assured that police personnel and anti-narcotics agents are closely monitoring the activities of the remaining drug surrenderees who either went out of the city or are still in their barangays to prevent them from going back to their illegal drug trade.
The BCPO and the PDEA continue to exchange information on the activities of drug personalities in the different parts of the city to help in the conduct of intensified anti drug operations that will help in curbing the illegal drugs trade in the city and achieve the overall objective of the government for a drug-free city and country in the future.
Bulwayan urged the active participation of everyone by providing law enforcers with vital information on the illegal drug activities of the drug personalities so that appropriate operations will be done to neutralize their activities and stop their illegal drug operations. – Dexter A. See
