Drug den operator, 3 others arrested in Kidapawan

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Anti-Narcotics agents arrested four men, among them a drug den operator, in an operation in Barangay Poblacion in Kidapawan City in Cotabato province on Tuesday, October 6.

Charlene Magdurulang, director of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency 12 and local executives who supported the entrapment operation separately told reporters on Friday that the four suspects are now locked in a detention facility, awaiting prosecution for violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.

One of the four now detained suspects is the owner of the drug den in Purok Ponkana in Madrid Subdivision in Barangay Poblacion in Kidapawan City, where PDEA 12 agents and combined operatives from the Kidapawan City Police Station and the Cotabato Provincial Police Office found P81,600 worth of shabu and drug sniffing paraphernalia in a search operation based on a warrant from a local court.

Local executives in Kidapawan and in Cotabato’s nearby Matalam and Makilala towns had confirmed to reporters that the owner of the drug den that PDEA 12 agents and policemen closed down, whom they identified only as Jack, also occasionally circulated marijuana in barangays under their jurisdiction.

Under state law, operation of a drug den is a non-bailable offense.

Magdurulang said their anti-narcotics operation in Kidapawan City, which led to the arrest of Jack and his three henchmen, was assisted by the office of Cotabato Gov. Emmylou Taliño-Mendoza.

The operation was premised on reports by tipsters about the collaboration of the four suspects in facilitating pot sessions in their drug den in Purok Poncana in Kidapawan City, according to Magdurulang.