OPERATIVES of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) arrested five members of a drug syndicate and seized 80 kilos of shabu, worth P544 million, in two simultaneous operations in Cavite yesterday morning.
The twin operations were launched a couple of hours before PDEA chief Wilkins Villanueva and other officials burned P14.29 billion worth of drugs, mostly shabu, in the province.
The arrested suspects were identified as Dominador Omega Jr, Siegfred Garcia, Elain Maningas, Ricardo Santillan, and Laurel Dela Rosa, who are all part of the Omega Drug Group which is headed by Omega.
Omega and Garcia were arrested during a buy-bust operation, conducted by PDEA with the military and the police, at around 8 a.m. in Camella Homes in Dasmariñas City.
Seized during the operation were 60 kilos of shabu worth P408 million, a butane stove, cooking equipment, gallons of chemicals, plastic chemicals with crystalline substance, air purifier, drug paraphernalia, a mobile phone and identification cards.
Also at around 8 a.m., PDEA operatives conducted a similar buy-bust operation in Buenavista Townhomes in General Trias City, leading to the arrest of Maningas, Santillan and Dela Rosa.
Seized from the possession of the three suspects were 20 kilos of shabu worth P136 million, six mobile phones and identification cards.
“They are related,” said PDEA spokesman Derrick Carreon of the five arrested suspects.
“They are members of the Omega Drug Group. (Their leader) Omega was among those arrested in Dasmariñas,” he said.
At around 10 a.m., Villanueva and PNP officer-in-charge Lt. Gen. Vicente Danao Jr led the incineration of P14.29 billion worth of drugs, which were seized in earlier anti-narcotics operations, at the Integrated Waste Management Inc compound in Trece Martires City.
The burned drugs were composed of 2,076.523 kilos of shabu, 426.479 kilos of marijuana, and 18.357 kilograms of party drugs ecstasy.
Villanueva said the seizure and subsequent destruction of the illegal drugs saved a lot of lives from the drug menace.
