Drug-dealing couple nabbed in North Cotabato

NORTH COTABATO, Philippines - Lawmen arrested before dawn Wednesday in Magpet town a couple long wanted for large-scale drug trafficking in hinterland communities in North Cotabato.

Inspector Realan Mamon, chief of the Magpet municipal police, said spouses Noel Flordeliza Cabarillos and Janet Latimbang Cabarillos voluntarily yielded after sensing that policemen have surrounded their house, bringing with them a search warrant issued by Judge Arvin Balagot of the Regional Trial Court Branch 17 in Kidapawan City.

The Cabarillos were a major supplier of shabu to in North Cotabato, said Mamon.

The couple has been moving from one town to another, until barangay folks noticed their presence in their house near the town proper of Magpet Tuesday night and immediately provided the local police information on their exact whereabouts.

Mamon said the raiding team recovered from the couple 48 heat-sealed plastic sachets filled with shabu, to be used as evidence in their prosecution.

“This couple is a big fish. The long hand of law finally reached and caught them with the help of barangay leaders,” Mamon said.

Mamon said they will charge the couple with violation of the Philippine Dangerous Drugs Act.

The Cabarillos were arrested hours after policemen and agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency nabbed in North Cotabato’s Makilala town drug dealer Riza Rodriguez while secretly peddling Shabu in one spot of the public market in the municipality.

Rodriguez, 27, is now detained at the Makilala police detention facility, awaiting prosecution.