5 nabbed in separate drug raids in North Cotabato

NORTH COTABATO, Philippines - Lawmen arrested five large-scale drug traffickers in separate operations in North Cotabato’s adjoining Libungan and Midsayap towns before dawn Wednesday.

Operatives of the Midsayap police and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) arrested Datu Kali and Esmael Maon at their hideout in east of the municipality while about to sniff methamphetamine hydrochloride, most known as shabu.

Superintendent Reinante Delos Santos, chief of the Midsayap police, said the raid was carried out after they received a tip on the illegal activity of the suspects in Barangay Poblacion III, where they operate a shabu distribution network.

Barangay folks have confirmed to investigators that Kali and Maon also dispersed shabu to peddlers in barangays at the border of Midsayap and Datu Piang, Maguindanao.

The raiding team recovered from the duo’s possession 70 sachets of shabu, which will be used as evidence in their prosecution for violation of the Philippine Dangerous Drugs Act.

Kali and Maon were nabbed about three hours after another team of combined policemen and PDEA agents arrested in Barangay Batiocan in Libungan drug peddlers Rogie Patiño, Danilo Buenilo and Leonardo Catulong.

The three suspects were tagged as behind the circulation of shabu in Barangay Batiocan and nearby agricultural enclaves in Pigkawayan town also in North Cotabato.

The suspects are now detained at the Libungan police station.