Intelligence officers of the Police Regional Office 7 on Thursday seized shabu worth P3.4 million in Tagbilaran City from a man deemed a high value target in the police’s anti-drug campaign.

The alleged drug supplier, Macario Niluag II, 40, of Dao, Tagbilaran City was arrested near his residence during a drug buy-bust operation led by operatives from the Regional Intelligence Division (RID) 7 and Bohol Provincial Intelligence Branch.

Niluag allegedly sold a large pack of shabu worth P100,000 to a poseur-buyer leading to his immediate arrest and the confiscation of 500 grams of shabu.

According to Sr. Insp Jojit Mananquil of the RID 7, they tracked down Niluag as a shabu source of some local drug dealers through text messages from confiscated mobile phones.

Police similarly found text messages indicating transactions between Niluag and alleged drug dealers in his phone.

Mananquil said that Niluag likely sourced the large amount of drugs from Cebu.

Intensified anti-drug operations in neighboring Cebu City, the largest city in the region, may have pushed drug suppliers in the area to divert their supply to Bohol, added Mananquil.

Authorities have noted that drug supplies from Cebu were shipped to Bohol through bancas.

However, Niluag denied the accusations.

He said that the large drug supply was left with him by his brother-in-law and that he willingly agreed to keep it as he admitted to be a drug user.

Niluag is now under the custody of the BPPO in Camp Francisco Dagohoy in Tagbilaran City and is set to be charged with violations against Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002. (W. Maestrado)