DRUG HAUL. Anti-drug operatives of Bacolod City Police Office seize 2.1 kilos of suspected shabu worth PHP14.38 million during a buy-bust operation in Barangay Vista Alegre on Thursday (Aug. 10, 2023). Arrested in the operation was Michael Sarabia Frias, 45, a member of Caunda Group, the lone drug syndicate operating in the city. (Photo courtesy of Bacolod City Police Office)
BACOLOD CITY – A suspected member of a drug syndicate operating here yielded two kilos of shabu worth PHP14.382 million during a buy-bust operation in Barangay Vista Alegre on Thursday.
Capt. Joven Mogato, chief of the Bacolod City Police Office- Drug Enforcement Unit, identified the suspect as Michael Sarabia Frias, 45, a high-value individual, who reportedly belongs to the Caunda Group, the remaining drug ring operating here.
Frias, a former drug offender, reportedly supplies illegal drugs to distributors in several villages in the city, Mogato said.
“He meets up with his clients. He delivers to those who are also subjects of our buy-bust operations. We learned that he is the source,” he said in a media interview.
Frias was arrested around 7 a.m. after he sold a sachet of shabu worth PHP10,000 to a poseur buyer at his residence in Purok Pablo Torre.
Anti-drug operatives then found in his possession four transparent plastic sachets and five transparent plastic bags containing suspected shabu, weighing two kilos and 115 grams.
Pegged at PHP6,800 per gram, the illegal drugs were valued at PHP14.38 million.
Other items confiscated included a sling bag, a digital weighing scale and PHP220 cash.
“Tactical interrogation is ongoing to locate the source of illegal drugs, links and accomplices for follow-up operation,” the BCPO said in a statement.
Frias was first arrested in 2009 and was released after 10 years in detention, including five years with the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology and another five years at the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City, the police official added. (PNA)
