5 nabbed in Cotabato drug raids

NORTH COTABATO, Philippines – Lawmen arrested five suspected major drug traffickers in separate operations in Libungan and Midsayap towns in this province on Wednesday.

Members of the Midsayap police and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) caught Datu Kali and Esmael Maon allegedly using shabu at their hideout in Barangay Poblacion III, according to town police chief Superintendent Reinante delos Santos.

Villagers told investigators that Kali and Maon were behind the proliferation of shabu in Midsayap as well as in Datu Piang in Maguindanao.

The raiding team seized from the suspects 70 plastic sachets said to contain the drugs.

The arrest of Kali and Maon came three hours after a team of police officers and PDEA agents collared suspected drug traffickers, identified as Rogie Patiño, Danilo Buenilo and Leonardo Catulong in Libungan.