BATANGAS CITY: A five-day simultaneous anti-criminality and law enforcement operation resulted in the arrest of 215 individuals wanted by law in Batangas province.

The Batangas Police Provincial Office said that 12 of the arrested individuals were listed as most wanted in the province.

The simultaneous operations were carried out from February 15 to February 19 as part of the Philippine National Police's intensified campaign against criminality in the province.

In his report to regional director BGen. Paul Kenneth Lucas of the Police Regional Office-Calabarzon, Col. Samson Belmonte, provincial director of Batangas PPO, said 42 wanted persons were arrested through warrant of arrests, which included the 12 most wanted persons and 30 other wanted persons.

In the course of the operations, the police also arrested 56 individuals for illegal drugs and seized a total of 85 grams of shabu and five grams of marijuana with a combined value of P578,600.

Meanwhile, 85 persons were arrested for illegal gambling while three were busted for illegal possession of firearms.