MAGUINDANAO, Philippines - Lawmen arrested in separate operations on Wednesday 12 notorious drug traffickers involved in large-scale distribution of shabu in two distant Maguindanao towns.
Eight of the arrested drug peddlers arrested in Buluan town southeast of Maguindanao were also suspected of having been involved in the brutal rape-slay of an adolescent girl in the municipality more than two weeks ago.
The Buluan municipal police said the suspects were arrested with the help of local officials and barangay leaders.
The suspects are now detained, awaiting prosecution.
Four other drug dealers were nabbed in Datu Odin town in the first district of Maguindanao, more than a hundred kilometers north of Buluan, in another operation by a special anti-narcotics unit of the provincial police.
In a statement Thursday, the provincial police office said the four suspects arrested in Datu Odin yielded shabu and a home-made firearm designed to set off 9 millimeter pistol rounds in automatic bursts.
Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu, presiding chair of the provincial peace and order council, said he had instructed the police to immediately charge the suspects with violation of the Philippine Dangerous Drugs Act.
Mangudadatu told The STAR he had also directed the provincial police director, Senior Superintendent Nickson Muksan, to intensify their campaign against circulation of shabu in Maguindanao following a rise in crimes in the province involving drug dependents.