Barangay chairman, 3 others nabbed for drug trafficking

NORTH COTABATO, Philippines — Authorities arrested four alleged drug traffickers, one of them a barangay chairman, in an anti-narcotics operation in Kabacan town on Tuesday.

Nestor Salama, 47, chairman of Barangay Balatongkayo in Montawal town in Maguindanao, is now in the custody of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, to be prosecuted for possession of shabu and an unlicensed pistol.

Salama and his 42-year-old wife, Norhata, and their two alleged henchmen — Kabunto Batunan, 39 and Johari Zombaga, 20 — were cornered by PDEA agents in a house in the town proper of Kabacan, about ten kilometers northwest of Montawal.

The PDEA operation that led to their arrest was assisted by Police Regional Office-12 and the Army’s 7th Infantry Battalion.

Agents of PDEA offices in Region 12 and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao recovered P292,000 worth of shabu from the suspects.

Agents also seized an unlicensed pistol from Salama.

All four suspects will be charged with violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act.

Juvenal Azurin and Naravy Duquitan, PDEA directors for ARMM and Region 12, respectively, have confirmed that the four suspects are “high-value targets,” wanted for large-scale peddling of shabu.

Azurin and Duquitan led the operation that resulted in the arrests.