Drug-dealing couple nabbed in Maguindanao

COTABATO CITY, Philippines - Government operatives broke on midnight Friday the backbone of a drug ring ran by a couple circulating shabu in the city and nearby Maguindanao towns.  

Operatives of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) arrested Haron Macmod, 37, and his spouse, 31-year-old Annabelle, in a raid at Barangay Capiton in Datu Odin Sinsuat town in Maguindanao.

In a statement Saturday, PDEA’s regional office here said the couple has long been under surveillance due to persistent reports by neighbors on their large-scale peddling of shabu.

The suspects have been dispersing shabu since 2010 to their clandestine distributors in different barangays in Datu Odin Sinsuat and in the southeastern part of Cotabato City.

The PDEA team that raided their hideout was armed with a warrant issued by Judge Bansawan Ibrahim of the Regional Trial Court Branch 13 in Cotabato City.

PDEA agents recovered from them about P100,000 worth of shabu ready for dispersal to buyers.

The Macmods are not clamped down in a PDEA detention facility, awaiting prosecution.