MILF member nabbed with P2.5-M in shabu in buy-bust
November 28, 2017 | 11:40pm
Authorities have impounded the vehicle that the suspects used. John Unson
COTABATO, Philippines — Anti-narcotics agents seized P2.5 million worth of shabu from an alleged member of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front arrested in Pigcawayan town in Cotabato province on Tuesday.
Juvenal Azurin, director of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, said Wednesday that Mohammad Tuankali Macalimpas, 47, was nabbed in a drug sting laid with the help of the police and local officials.
Also arrested were his companions Samsodin Kato, 30, and Noraida Samaon Alamada, 20.
Macalimpas, known to friends and relatives as a member of the 105th Base Command of the MILF, is included in PDEA's list of more than a dozen “high-value targets” in central Mindanao.
The MILF, which has an existing peace agreement with the government, signed a protocol of cooperation in June to join the government's war on drugs. The MILF considers drugs "haram" or forbidden and has banned the use,sale and proliferation of narcotics in its communities since 2015.
Azurin said the suspects were caught in the act of turning over the P2.5 million in shabu to agents posing as drug dependents in an agreed trade off site near a money courier shop along a highway in Pigcawayan town.
Azurin said the operation was carried out with the help of agents of PDEA-12, the Pigcawayan municipal police and local officials.
“We are very thankful to the local government units in Cotabato City and in Pigcayawan for helping us locate the suspects who are now in our custody,” Azurin said.
Azurin said agents also recovered a Norinco 9-mm pistol with seven rounds of ammunition from Macalimpas.
The PDEA-ARMM also impounded the vehicle of the suspects.
Azurin said Macalimpas and his two accomplices will be charged with violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act. Macalimpas also faces a charge of illegal possession of a firearm.
Despite its official name, Cotabato province is often referred to by its old name North Cotabato.
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