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.