Officials demolish drug den in Cotabato City cemetery

COTABATO CITY, Philippines -- Authorities on Sunday flattened with sledgehammers and crowbars a semi-permanent drug den at one side of the city’s century-old Chinese cemetery.

 

The operation was led by Vice Mayor Cynthia Guiani-Sayadi, whose office is presently studying necessary updates on old ordinances empowering the police to address domestic peace and security issues, including the circulation of methamphetamine hydrochloride (shabu) by criminal gangs.

 

Sayadi and the city police learned of the presence of the drug den from six wanted drug dependents they caught in the act of sniffing shabu in their hideout in Barangay Rosary Heights 13 here.

 

The arrested suspects led them to the drug den, built along the wall in one corner of the Chinese cemetery.

 

Among the suspects who allegedly ran the drug den is a former police officer discharged from the service for serious offenses and now the subject of manhunt by authorities.

 

The dismantled drug den was near the Police Precinct II in Rosary Heights District here. Barangay residents have urged Sayadi, a practicing lawyer, to have precinct commander replaced immediately for failing to stop the drug den from operating.

 

Senior police officials said plainclothes operatives now have leads on who were behind its operation and that corresponding cases would be filed against them.

 

Investigators recovered drug sniffing paraphernalia and empty plastic sachets containing crystalline particles inside the shelter, prompting city officials to immediately knock it down using carpentry tools.

 

Sayadi, during the campaign period, promised to flex her authority to curb criminal gangs in the city to help the city government sustain the now markedly noticeable improvements in the local economy.

 

Shopping malls, hotels and other business establishments have sprouted conspicuously in strategic spots in the city in the past five years.