P5.8 million worth of shabu seized from Basilan, Tawi-Tawi dealers

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — State agents seized P5.8 million worth of shabu in separate operations Tuesday in Basilan and in Tawi-Tawi provinces in the Bangsamoro region.

One of the operations resulted in the death of Alvin Sawadjaan Indanan, shot dead by agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

PDEA-BARMM agents who tried to entrap Sawadjaan neutralized him instead for refusing to cooperate when sensed he had sold P340,000 worth of shabu to non-uniformed anti-narcotics operatives during a tradeoff in Barangay Santa Clara in Lamitan City, Basilan.

Juvenal Azurin, director of PDEA for the Bangsamoro region, said local officials and barangay leaders helped them plan the operation that resulted in the confiscation of 50 grams of shabu from the slain Sawadjaan.

PDEA-BARMM agents confiscated P4.7 million worth of shabu from Hassan Anggie Hawaan, Mannan Nusuri Muhadi and Mudzna Anggie Hawaan, who fell in a sting in Barangay Pag-asa in Bongao, Tawi-Tawi several hours later.

The three suspects yielded peacefully when PDEA-BARMM agents frisked and cuffed them after receiving marked money as payment for their illegal merchandise.

Azurin placed at P5.8 million the total value of shabu that PDEA-BARMM agents confiscated in the separate entrapment operations in Tawi-Tawi and in Basilan.

He said the three suspects arrested in Bongao, capital town of Tawi-Tawi shall be prosecuted for violation of Republic Act 9165, also known as the Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.