A composite team of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and the Bohol Provincial Police Office (BPPO) seized shabu worth P3.4 million, the largest single-operation drug haul this year, in Cortes.
In a report, police said they confiscated the drug stash from Severino Pata, Jr., 41, of Tagbilaran City in a drug buy-bust operation in Barangay Lourdes, Cortes on Friday afternoon.
Pata, who has been identified as a drug “bodegero,” is listed as a high-value individual in the government’s anti-drug drive.
The BPPO Provincial Intelligence Branch and the PDEA collared Pata after he allegedly sold shabu worth P50,000 to an undercover agent.
Following the arrest, the operatives allegedly found in Pata’s possession 19 more packs of shabu which weighed 500 grams.
According to BPPO Provincial Intelligence Branch (PIB) chief Lt. Col. John Escober, Pata’s drug supply was sourced from Metro Manila based on their intelligence reports.
They however have yet to identify how the contraband was slipped into the province.
Escober said that Pata is the supplier of several other alleged drug dealers who were arrested this week in Baclayon, Sikatuna and Tagbilaran City.
Pata is now under police custody pending the filing of charges against him. (wm)