By Teofilo Garcia, Jr.
ZAMBOANGA CITY – Authorities have arrested three high-value targets (HVTs) and seized some P15.6 million worth of illegal drugs in an anti-drug operation in the vicinity of a hospital here, an official said Monday.
Maharani Gadaoni-Tosoc, Director of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in Zamboanga Peninsula (PDEA-9), said the arrested HVTs are two factory workers aged 66 and 30, and a driver aged 42.
They were nabbed during a buy-bust around 11:45 a.m. along Vitaliano Agan Avenue in Barangay Camino Nuevo.
An armed cohort, whose identity has yet to be ascertained, managed to escape aboard a pick-up truck.
“There was (an exchange of) gunfire as members of the arresting team pursued the suspect. The vehicle was recovered abandoned near a school in Baranga Sta. Catalina,” Tosoc said.
The site where the suspect abandoned the vehicle was a kilometer away from the place of the operation.
Recovered from the arrested suspects were some two kilos of suspected shabu packed in 47 heat-sealed plastic sachets, a three-wheeled vehicle locally known as Piaggio, two mobile phones, and the buy-bust money.
Tosoc said they launched the operation, with the support of the police, a week after the suspect agreed to complete the transaction.
Meanwhile, the PDEA-Zamboanga Peninsula has strengthened collaboration with the Naval Forces Western Mindanao (NFWM) in the fight against illegal drugs.
Tosoc and Rear Admiral Francisco Tagamolila Jr., NFWM commander, tackled in a meeting on Feb. 20 key strategies on intelligence-sharing, joint operations, and maritime interdiction efforts to prevent drug trafficking through the region’s waters. (PNA)
