Cops seize P20.4-M worth of shabu in Zamboanga entrapment operation

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Plainclothes policemen seized P20.4 million worth shabu from three peddlers who fell in a sting in Barangay Talisayan in Zamboanga City on Saturday afternoon, September 21.

The Police Regional Office-9 and the Zamboanga City Police Office stated in separate initial reports released three hours after the operation that the three suspects, Mario Pawae Jalilul, 34, Alsid Ahiyal Sahiron, 36, and the 22-year-old Ridsman Jikir Majini, are now locked in a detention facility, awaiting prosecution.

Brig. Gen Bowenn Joey Masauding, director of PRO-9, told reporters that Jalilul, Sahiron and Jikiri were immediately detained by their anti-narcotics operatives after turning over to them three kilos of shabu, worth P20.4 million, in an entrapment operation in Sitio Ramon in Barangay Talisayan.

Officials of the Zamboanga City Police Office said the operation that resulted in the arrest of the three suspects was premised on tips by confidential informants about their large-scale trafficking of shabu in the city and in nearby provinces.

The PRO-9 is now in custody of the P20.4 million worth of shabu confiscated from the three suspects, to be used as evidence in filing corresponding criminal charges against them.