SEIZED. An anti-narcotics agent accounts for the illegal shabu seized from five persons in front of a fast food chain in Cotabato City on Sunday (Nov. 12, 2023) with a street value of PHP3.4 million. PDEA agents also seized shabu, amounting to PHP2 million, in an operation on the same day in the city. (Photo courtesy of PDEA-BARMM)
COTABATO CITY – Authorities arrested seven suspected drug peddlers while over PHP5.7 million worth of shabu were seized by anti-narcotics operatives over the weekend here and in Tacurong City.
In this city, a total of PHP3.4 million worth of shabu were recovered from five drug suspects during anti-drug operations on Sunday, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (PDEA-BARMM) said.
“The drug bust was successfully conducted Sunday noon in front of a fast food chain along Sinsuat Avenue, Cotabato City,“ PDEA-BARMM Director Christian Frivaldo said in a statement Monday.
Frivaldo said Usman Camit Musa, Al Raji Mlok Bayam, Kenedy Manampen Baraguir, Bailing Saavedra Bagundang, and Sahara Bagundang Tiang did not resist arrest during an entrapment by the city government-led Inter-Agency Task Force Kutawato and PDEA-BARMM agents.
Confiscated during the operation were 10 sachets of shabu, buy-bust money, mobile phones, two vehicles, and other pieces of evidence.
Earlier in the day, PDEA agents also arrested Ephraim Datumanong, 29, of Barangay Rosary Heights Mother, after he allegedly sold shabu worth PHP360,000 to an undercover agent.
All six suspects are now detained at the PDEA-BARMM detention facility while charges for violation of RA 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Act of 2002 are being prepared against them.
In Tacurong City, PDEA agents in the Soccsksargen Region also arrested a militiaman for alleged drug peddling and seized from him PHP2 million worth of shabu on Saturday.
After weeks of surveillance, anti-narcotics agents arrested Norodin Midtimbang, 30, of Abdullah Sangki, Maguindanao del Sur, and an active member of the Civilian Armed Forces Geographical Unit.
“Midtimbang was nabbed during a buy-bust operation in Barangay New Isabela, Tacurong City after selling shabu to undercover agents,” PDEA-12 Director Aileen Lovitos said in a separate statement.
Midtimbang peddled illegal drugs in areas of Maguindanao, Sultan Kudarat, South Cotabato, and General Santos City, Lovitos said. (PNA)
The Philippine News Agency is a web-based newswire service of the Philippine government under the supervision of the News and Information Bureau (NIB) of the Presidential Communications Office (PCO).