Police seized shabu worth P4.6 million in a series of drug-related arrests in Bohol in a span of five days last week including a 500-gram drug stash from a “shabu bodegero,” the largest single-operation drug haul in the province this year.

Compiled police reports indicated that the drugs which weighed a total of almost 700 grams were seized in Tagbilaran City and the towns of Sikatuna, Baclayon and Cortes from March 8 to 12.

According to Bohol police Provincial Intelligence Branch (PIB) chief Lt. Col. John Escober, the weeklong drug-network crackdown led to the identification and arrest of alleged shabu “bodegero” Severino Pata, Jr. 41, who was caught with P3.4 million worth of illegal drugs.

Pata was arrested in a drug sting operation set by the PIB and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) in Barangay New Lourdes on Friday last week after he allegedly sold shabu worth P50,000 to an undercover agent.

Pata’s drug supply was sourced from Metro Manila based on their intelligence reports, Escober said.

Authorities however have yet to identify how the contraband was slipped into the province.

Escober said that Pata was the supplier of several other alleged drug dealers who were arrested last week.

Among those nabbed who were linked to Pata were Carmelo Budlong (P340,000) in Tagbilaran City, Bryan Lambo (P136,000) in Sikatuna, Jeffrey Jumawan (P170,000) in Baclayon.

Others arrested during the weeklong anti-drug operations were Jonathan Maranga and Jamesrox Namoc (P47,600), Giovanni Seloterio (P54,000), and Franklyn Rollinas (P510,000). All three were collared in Tagbilaran City. (wm)