NEW DRUG GANGS EMERGING

The Philippine National Police is now looking into reports of the emergence of new "crime drug gangs" in Western Visayas, Chief Supt.  George Alino, director of the Police Regional Office 6, said yesterday.

Alino said the focus on crime drug gangs is part of their intensified anti-drug campaign following after the elections.  He said it is easier for them to destroy drug gangs, that are smaller in number, compared to drug syndicates like the Cuadra gang.

He denied reports of a new drug syndicate that replaced the business of the Jose Kim "Boy" Cuadra gang in Bacolod City.  He said other drug groups could not surpass the influence of Cuadra in Bacolod when it comes to illegal drugs.

The Bacolod City Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Group said they have been monitoring an official of a utility firm in Bacolod, who allegedly supplies shabu in the city, as replacement of the Boy Cuadra circle.

Alino said the Cuadra syndicate found difficulty in putting up another group when their leader Boy Cuadra was arrested in April last year in Aklan.  Caudra is now detained at the Aklan BJMP.