Zamboanga: Authorities have arrested three high-value targets (HVTs) and seized some P15.6 million worth of illegal drugs in an anti-drug operation in the vicinity of a hospital here, an official said Monday. Maharani Gadaoni-Tosoc, Director of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in Zamboanga Peninsula (PDEA-9), said the arrested HVTs are two factory workers aged 66 and 30, and a driver aged 42.

According to Philippines News Agency, the individuals were apprehended during a buy-bust operation conducted around 11:45 a.m. along Vitaliano Agan Avenue in Barangay Camino Nuevo. An armed cohort, whose identity has yet to be ascertained, managed to escape aboard a pick-up truck.

“There was (an exchange of) gunfire as members of the arresting team pursued the suspect. The vehicle was recovered abandoned near a school in Baranga Sta. Catalina,” Tosoc said. The site where the suspect abandoned the vehicle was a kilometer away from the place of the operation.

Recovered from the arrested suspects were some two kilos of suspected shabu packed in 47 heat-sealed plastic sachets, a three-wheeled vehicle locally known as Piaggio, two mobile phones, and the buy-bust money. Tosoc mentioned that they launched the operation, with the support of the police, a week after the suspect agreed to complete the transaction.

Meanwhile, the PDEA-Zamboanga Peninsula has strengthened collaboration with the Naval Forces Western Mindanao (NFWM) in the fight against illegal drugs. Tosoc and Rear Admiral Francisco Tagamolila Jr., NFWM commander, discussed key strategies on intelligence-sharing, joint operations, and maritime interdiction efforts to prevent drug trafficking through the region’s waters during a meeting on February 20.