P5.1 million worth of shabu seized in BARMM

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Anti-narcotics agents seized P5.1 million worth of shabu from two peddlers entrapped in separate operations in Bongao, Tawi-Tawi and in Cotabato City within just two days.

Local executives told reporters on Thursday that agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and policemen immediately clamped down Mahadir Arabani Udja after selling to them shabu last Wednesday, September 30, in Barangay Tubig Tanah in Bongao.

George Paul Alcovindas, director of PDEA-BARMM, confirmed to reporters on Thursday that their agents had seized from the suspect half a kilo of shabu, costing P3.4 million, during the entrapment operation, premised on reports by local executives about his large-scale trafficking of narcotics in Bongao, the capital of Tawi-Tawi, and in nearby islands in the province.

The entrapment operation, supervised by two members of the PDEA-BARMM Tawi-Tawi Team, Gracel Jane Sales and Abraham Solon, was enforced with the help of local executives, officials of the 4th Marine Rifle Battalion of the Philippine Navy, the Bongao Municipal Police Station and the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region and their subordinate officers in different units in the province.

Last Tuesday, PDEA-BARMM agents and policemen immediately detained a male shabu dealer after they had procured shabu from him in a residential area in Barangay Poblacion 5 in Cotabato City, the regional capital of BARMM.

Alcovindas said the operation was laid with the help of Cotabato City Mayor Bruce Matabalao and his constituent-barangay leaders and local Muslim preachers supporting the city government’s peacekeeping activities.

PDEA-BARMM agents and policemen from units of the Cotabato City Police Office, led by their director, Col. Jibin Bongcayao, had confiscated from the suspect P1.7 million worth of shabu, weighing 250 grams, to be used as evidence in prosecuting him in court for violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.