PDEA-BARMM agents shut drug den, arrest 4 operators in Maguindanao del Norte

COTABATO CITY — A woman operating a drug den in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao del Norte and her three accomplices were clamped down by agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency on Thursday, November 28.

Gil Cesario Castro, director of the PDEA-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, told reporters on Friday that they are now in the custody of drug den operator Baiwata Amirol Ala and her three companions, Jackson Mandi, Jeffrey Abdullah and Jehad Ala. They would be prosecuted for violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.

All four of them were immediately arrested after selling P170,000 worth of shabu to combined agents of PDEA-BARMM and personnel of the Datu Odin Sinsuat Municipal Police Station during a tradeoff right in their drug den at Sitio Broce in Barangay Tamontaka in Datu Odin Sinsuat, not too distant from Cotabato City.

Castro said the operation that led to the arrest of Ala and her cohorts was laid with the help of barangay officials in Tamontaka, Maguindanao del Norte police personnel and agents from units of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region.

Barangay officials and PDEA-BARMM agents immediately closed down their drug den, now guarded by volunteer community watchmen.