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Cagayan Valley’s topmost drug pusher arrested

SANTIAGO CITY– The government scored big in its continued drive against illegal drugs in Cagayan Valley with the arrest last week of one of the region’s top ten suspected drug pushers reportedly based here.

Joint elements of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) nabbed suspected drug pusher Victorino Culang, also listed No. 2 in the drug watchlist of the Isabela provincial police office, in a drug buy-bust operation at Barangay Mabini here.

Senior Superintendent Wilhelm Barlis, the city’s police director, said operatives from PDEA, the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) and the city police posed as buyers and caught Culang red-handed having two sachets of what is believed to be shabu and P1,000 marked money.

Culang was the latest catch in the police’s ongoing drive to rid the region of illegal drugs.

His arrest also came as Mayor Amelita Navarro declared an all-out war on illegal drugs in the wake of reports that the city was becoming a drug haven.

"As mayor, my priority will be against illegal drugs. I’m serious about this and I promise to have the drug menace curbed within the four corners of the city," she said.

Last year, Apolonio de Leon, 57, uncle of the suspected No. 1 man on the region’s drug watch list, was likewise arrested in Barangay Mabini, where a suspected shabu tiangge is located. De Leon , police said, was also among the city’s top 20 suspected drug pushers.

Meanwhile, Chief Superintendent Ameto Tolentino, Cagayan Valley police director, reported the reduction in the number of drug-influenced barangays in the region from around 100 previously to now only 78, representing only 2.4 percent of the region’s 3,211 barangays.

He attributed this reduction to the relentless campaign by police and other government law enforcement agencies, including the local government units and the community in constantly educating the public on the evils of illegal drugs.
"I have seen that there has been a significant decrease in the number of drug cases in the region, thanks to the good partnership between police, local officials and the community," he said. CCL

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