The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) 7 has placed the entire transportation system and routes under surveillance after discovering a “land trip” route used by a new group from Luzon that smuggled 20 kilograms of shabu worth P136 million into Cebu.
Following the filing of charges against the suspects on Monday, May 25, 2026, authorities have shifted focus to dismantling the group’s network and ensuring that the large volume of illegal drugs is not recycled back into the market.
According to PDEA 7 Spokesperson Leia Alcantara, the agency is deeply concerned about the discovered route used by the group led by alias Romy and alias Dante. Using Roll-on/Roll-off (RoRo) vessels and land trips, the suspects managed to bypass numerous checkpoints from the capital.
The shipment route started from Batangas Port to Oriental Mindoro, then to Caticlan, Negros, and Toledo City, Cebu. PDEA revealed that there is a high possibility that Cebu was merely used as a transshipment point, with parts of the 20 kilograms of shabu intended for delivery to Mindanao and other provinces in the Visayas.
This is why the intelligence unit is seriously profiling the group’s contacts, Alcantara added.
