P6.8-M worth of shabu seized in PDEA-9 operation

COTABATO CITY — Agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in Region 9 (PDEA-9) seized P6.8 million worth of shabu from a suspected dealer in Barangay Don Andres, Ipil, Zamboanga Sibugay, on Sunday, November 2. The operation was carried out with the assistance of confidential tipsters.

Bryan Babang, director of PDEA-9, said the 46-year-old male suspect was immediately frisked and cuffed after selling to their agents a kilo of shabu, costing P6.8 million, during a tradeoff in Barangay Don Andres in Ipil, with the help of villagers aware of his trafficking of illegal drugs in the municipality. 

Babang said the entrapment operation that led to his arrest was backed by Police Regional Office-9 director Brig. Gen. Eleazar Matta, as well as officials from police units in Zamboanga Sibugay under Matta’s operational control.

Babang said the entrapment operation that led to the detention of the suspect and confiscation from him of a kilo of shabu was planned with the help of local executives and senior members of the multi-sector Ipil Municipal Peace and Order Council.

Babang said the suspect is locked in a detention facility, awaiting prosecution for violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.