Reelected village chief nabbed for drug trafficking in Basilan

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines — Combined police and law enforcement agencies arrested a barangay chairman in a buy-bust operation Saturday dawn in a village of Lamitan City, Basilan, official said.

The arrested suspect was identified as Adzhar Omboc Macrohon, a reelected chairman of Barangay Bato. He was included in the narco-politician list of Basilan, said Basilan Provincial Police Office (BPPO) director Senior Superintendent Rufino Inot.

Inot said the combined units from BPPO, Lamitan Police, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, police's Special Action Force and 74th Infantry Battalion launched the buy-operation following the complaint forwarded through the hotline of President Rodrigo Duterte about the illegal drug operation of Macrohon.

Inot said the official was arrested about 5 a.m. during the buy-bust operation in his residence at Barangay Bato.

“The suspect has been monitored and planned out since 2010 but it is only now our authorities finally got the chance. In fact, we received a complaint from the Office of the President that was filed through the hotline of the president,” Inot said.

The police official also revealed that Macrohon had also ignored the random drug testings issued by the Department of Interior and Local Government and the local government unit of Lamitan.

During the buy-bust operation, the law enforcement team recovered from the suspect at least six medium-sized plastic sachets of shabu, each containing 20 grams, with an estimated market value of P100,000.

The operatives also seized from Macrohon a unit of caliber .45 pistol with magazine and four live ammunitions, a fragmentation grenade, 25 rounds of 5.56 blank bullet, 93 rounds of live 5.56, and 12 magazines for M16 rifle, including the marked money used in the operation.

Macrohon denied owning the shabu and marked money, except for the firearms and ammunitions he claimed to have acquired recently from a government-militia member.