CEBU CITY, Philippines — The separate arrests of a 61-year-old mother and her two daughters, whom police considered as the people running one of the biggest illegal drugs business in Talisay City, led to 10 other operations, which yielded P5.4 million of suspected shabu and the arrest of 43 others, 15 of them high value targets.

Police Major Gerard “Ace” Perale, Talisay City Police Office chief, said Amalia Obrera, 61, and her daughters Jemelyn, 22, and Heartinie, 28, were allegedly considered as among the biggest illegal drug distributors in Talisay City.

Pelare said Amalia was allegedly the facilitator of the family’s alleged illegal drugs business while Heartinie and Jemelyn would allegedly distribute the illegal drugs to their clients.

He said that the arrest of the Obrera family members would help lessen the proliferation of the illegal drugs in the city.

“We believe that the neutralization of this family along with their cohorts — there will be a significant decrease in the supply and demand (of illegal drugs),” said Perale.

He said that the first to be arrested was Jemelyn in her home in Sitio Sambagan, Barangay Tangke at 3:30 a.m. of January 11, 2020.

She was allegedly caught with 10 grams of suspected shabu which had a Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) value of P70,000.

Next to fall was Heartinie in her house in Sitio Sawsawan, Barangay San Roque in Talisay City at 6 a.m.

She was allegedly caught with 5 grams of suspected shabu, which had an estimated DDB value of P34,000.

Meanwhile, a simultaneous operation was also conducted against Amalia Obrera, the mother, at 6 a.m.

Pelare said Amalia was caught with 55 grams of suspected shabu which had an estimated DDB value of P374,000.

Amalia, for her part, denied allegations against her.

She told police that she did not own the illegal drugs and that she was only arrested because the drugs were found inside her home.

After the Obrera family members’ arrests, Pelare said they conducted 10 more buy-busts operation on alleged cohorts of the Obrera family and arrested 43 others, confiscated P4,992,000 worth of suspected shabu.

Pelare said that the three women were considered high value targets (HVTs).

He also said that in the 10 other operations, they arrested 12 other HVTS./dbs