Pubdate: Thu, 01 Jan 2004 Source: Sunstar Bacolod (Philippines) Copyright: 2004sSunstar Contact: http://www.sunstar.com.ph/bacolod/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1718 Author: Claudine C. Dumalag NEGOCC TRANSSHIPMENT POINT OF DANGEROUS DRUGS: POLICE SENIOR Supt. Vicente Ponteras, provincial police director, reiterated that Negros Occidental is classified only as a transshipment point of dangerous drugs and there is no known major producer in the area. The province is accessible to drug traffickers from nearby provinces linked to big-time drug syndicates based in Metro Manila, he said. However, the supply of shabu and marijuana has been curbed because of government's intensive campaign against drugs. There are no known clandestine laboratories for shabu in the province. However, minor plantations for marijuana have been noted as evidenced by the uprooting of 30 pieces of full grown marijuana plants in the hinterlands of Ilog and the uprooting of six pieces of full-grown marijuana plants with two kilos of dried marijuana leaves in a remote barangay in Bago City, said Ponteras. Ponteras also revealed that illicit drugs from Manila pass through Iloilo City before entering Bacolod City. Those coming from Mindanao area are being coursed through Cebu City before entering either San Carlos City in the north and Dumaguete City in the southern Negros island before entering in the province. Ponteras said that 70 percent of the drug supply in the province comes from Bacolod, while the rest of the supply come from the province of Cebu and Iloilo. Meanwhile, the provincial police office already neutralized five drug groups operating in the province. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman