P6.8 million in shabu seized in Marawi buy-bust

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Authorities on Thursday seized P6.8 million worth of shabu from two drug dealers arrested in an entrapment operation in Marawi City.

Suspects Alexander Dayondong Aliponto and Adam Pandiin were arrested in the act of selling a kilogram of shabu to undercover agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

The suspects are among PDEA-BARMM’s top ten “high value” targets in Marawi City and Lanao del Sur, the agency said.

In a statement Friday, PDEA-BARMM said the operation that led to their arrest was assisted by the office of Marawi City Mayor Majul Gandamra, the Lanao del Sur provincial police and the Army’s 104th Infantry Brigade.

Brig. Gen. Marni Marcos, director of the Bangsamoro regional police, said informants, among them local officials, helped the Marawi City police and PDEA-BARMM carry out the operation.