Manila, Aug. 31 -- Authorities arrested three high-value individuals (HVIs) who evaded a checkpoint and seized approximately PHP605.2 million worth of illegal drugs here on Sunday.

The Special Operations Unit-Zamboanga Peninsula (SOU-9) of the Philippine National Police-Drug Enforcement Group (PDEG) identified the arrested suspects by their aliases Wang Yu, 53; John Michael, 27; and Alshareif, 41.

SOU-9 said the suspects were arrested following a chase around 7:47 a.m. in Barangay Rio Hondo.

"The operatives conducted land interdiction through intelligence-driven checkpoint operation. The suspects evaded the checkpoint, thus a hot pursuit operation ensued which resulted in the arrest of the suspects," SOU-9 said.

Seized from the suspec...