Suspected Luzon drug lord arrested in Antique province

A suspected drug lord believed operating in Luzon and parts of Panay in Western Visayas has been arrested, a report Iloilo-based news site said.

Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency operatives arrested Hilario Ambulo Talde, 48, in a sting operation, the The Daily Guardian reported.

“He has been monitored in Cavite for almost two years. It took us four months to monitor him in Pandan until we caught him here,” PDEA Western Visayas director Paul Ledesma was quoted in the report as saying.

Seized from suspect were 12 sachets of methamphetamine hydrochloride (shabu) and P3,600 cash including P500 in marked money used for the buy-bust.

The report said Talde was tagged as the leader of the Talde Drug Group based in Cavite and is believed to operate in Regions 4-A (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon) and 4-B (Occidental Mindoro, Oriental Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan), and his group is on the PDEA priority list.

PDEA-6 also said Talde’s group is also active in the northern Panay area.

“When we first conducted the surveillance we found out that he supplies drugs to Boracay, Kalibo and Northern Antique,” said Ledesma.

He added Talde may have another source of illegal drugs aside from Iloilo, including Northern Antique.

But Talde denied he is the leader or member of any illegal drugs syndicate, adding he has a karaoke bar in Pasay City.

Talde admitted he faces a drug-related case in Pasay filed four years ago.

Meanwhile, Ledesma said this was the first time that a suspected drug leader outside Western Visayas was caught in the region. — LBG, GMA News