15 drug peddlers nabbed in Cotabato City

COTABATO CITY, Philippines - Anti-narcotics agents on Thursday arrested 15 drug peddlers as they dismantled a drug den along a busy thoroughfare near the city’s main commercial hub.

Operatives of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and combatants of the Army’s 5th Special Forces Battalion carried out the raid after having received tips on the operation of a drug den along Jose Lim Sr. Street north of Cotabato City.

In a statement, PDEA’s office in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), which covers Cotabato City’s 37 barangays, said the 15 arrested suspects will be charged with violation of the Philippine Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 if evidence against them will suffice.

Agents of PDEA-ARMM had arrested dozens of drug dealers in the city and in nearby towns in Maguindanao in recent months in a continuing crackdown meant to curb circulation of methamphetamine hydrochloride, most known as shabu, in the local communities.

The PDEA-ARMM also has jurisdiction over Marawi City, also a known transshipment point for shabu, which ethnic Maranaw traffickers circulate in Lanao del Sur, a component province of the autonomous region.