MILF member, 4 others nabbed in 2 PDEA-BARMM operations

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Anti-narcotics agents seized more than P1 million worth of shabu, an M60 machinegun and a Browning Automatic Rifle in two separate entrapment operations in Maguindanao del Sur on Saturday morning.

Gil Cesario Castro, director of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, told reporters on Saturday afternoon that the first to fall in the two anti-shabu stings are four accomplices initially identified only as Dido, Jojo, Anton and Jerry.

They were arrested after selling P516,800 worth of shabu to PDEA-BARMM agents and policemen right in their drug den in Barangay Ambadao in Datu Piang town in Maguindanao del Sur.

Municipal officials, PDEA-BARMM agents, personnel of the Datu Piang Municipal Police Station under Captain Razul Pandulo and troops from units of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division immediately shutdown their drug den, frequented by villagers from around and from nearby barangays.

An hour later, another team of PDEA-BARMM operatives, backed by policemen and agents of the National Bureau of Investigation and soldiers, immediately detained Dido Akad Lampay, a platoon leader in the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, after confiscating from him P510,000 worth of shabu in a tradeoff in Barangay Montay, also in Datu Piang.

Local executives had confirmed to PDEA-BARMM officials that Lampay is an MILF platoon leader who has more than 20 followers in Barangay Montay.

Castro said they had also seized an M60 machinegun and a vintage Browning Automatic Rifle, most known as the .30 caliber BAR, found in Lampay’s hideout in Barangay Montay, from where he sold P510,000 worth of his illegal merchandise to non-uniformed PDEA-BARMM agents disguised as drug dependents.

All shabu dealers arrested in the two joint PDEA-BARMM, police, NBI and Army operations are now detained, to be prosecuted for violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, according to Castro.