Members of Sulu drug trafficking gang arrested

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — The police busted last Monday a nine-member gang during an entrapment operation for allegedly peddling shabu in Jolo, Sulu and sharing fractions of drug money to the Abu Sayyaf terror group.

Brig. Gen. Allan Nobleza, director of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, said Wednesday the nine suspects fell in an anti-narcotics sting in Barangay Asturias in Jolo.

The operation was conducted with the help of members of the Sulu Provincial Peace and Order Council and Muslim religious leaders in Sulu.

Nobleza said Warlito Edjung Dela Cruz, Jai Ahadain Majung, Shakir-Nasif Pawah Hayudini, Aldrin Parahis Alih, Abdul-Ajim Isnirul Sangkula, Abdulnajir Pala Hajan, Rashid Hajihil Aggih, Nadzmier Dampal Indanan and Ronie Aladja Sabturani had been charged with violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.

In separate reports to Nobleza, the Sulu Provincial Police Office and the Jolo Municipal Police Station said plainclothes policemen had seized a total of P109,700 worth of shabu from the nine suspects in a tradeoff in Barangay Asturians.

“They were long under surveillance. Their illegal activities were reported to our units in Sulu by vigilant local officials and members of the local Islamic community,” Nobleza said.

Units of PRO-BAR in Sulu and agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao together arrested 27 large-scale drug dealers in a series of entrapment operations in the province in the past 12 months.