P34 million in shabu seized in Tawi-Tawi buy-bust

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Authorities seized P34 million worth of shabu from three drug traffickers who fell in an entrapment operation Tuesday in Bongao town in Tawi-Tawi.

Haberson Jaafar, Elmer Jamadin and Adzfar Asali, are now in the joint custody of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and the Bangsamoro Regional Police.

Juvenal Azurin, PDEA-BARMM director, said the suspects face complaints of violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act.

He said the three men were arrested in the act of selling five kilos of shabu, valued at P34 million, to undercover PDEA agents.

The operation that led to the arrest of Jaafar, Jamadin and Asali was assisted by the Bongao municipal police, the Tawi-Tawi provincial police, the 9th Marine Battalion and other units of the military's Western Mindanao Command.

"It took our agents several days to plot and carry out the operation. We are thankful to all government units that supported this entrapment operation," Azurin said Tuesday.