P1.7-M worth shabu confiscated in Zamboanga del Sur

COTABATO CITY— Policemen seized P1.3 million worth of shabu from two dealers from Lanao del Sur, reportedly linked to the Dawlah Islamiya, who were entrapped in Aurora town in Zamboanga del Sur on Wednesday. 

The now detained Alijina Bangon Edris, 49, and his 39-year-old accomplice, Ansano Omar Madki, are both from Tugaya municipality in Lanao del Sur, one of the six provinces in the Bangsamoro region where there is presence of the Dawlah Islamiya.

The Dawlah Islamiya, which has a reputation for bombing establishments and buses if owners refuse to shell out “protection money,” is also for providing sanctuary to drug traffickers in exchange for money.

In separate initial reports released on Thursday, the Aurora Municipal Police Station and the Zamboanga del Sur Provincial Police Office said that Edris and Madki were immediately detained after selling 200 grams of shabu, worth P1.3 million, to non-uniformed policemen in a tradeoff in Purok Santa Maria in Barangay Poblacion in Aurora.

Municipal and provincial police officials told reporters the entrapment operation that led to the duo’s arrest and seizure from them of P1.3 million worth of shabu was planned with the help of local officials and tipsters from their hometown in Lanao del Sur.

Senior members of the municipal peace and order councils in different towns in Lanao del Sur said Edris and Madki shared parts of their earnings from drug trafficking to the Dawlah Islamiya.