COTABATO CITY, Philippines — State agents seized P1.6 million worth of shabu from three large-scale drug traffickers in an entrapment operation Friday in North Cotabato province.
One of the three men, Mohidin Mahmod, was shot dead by agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency for refusing to yield.
He and companions Sidik Tugan and Nasrudin Tugan were entrapped in Barangay Bual in Midsayap, North Cotabato by combined PDEA agents from Region 12 and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
PDEA agents were forced to neutralize Mahmod when he pulled out a .45 caliber pistol from his waist when he sensed they had sold shabu to a non-uniformed anti-narcotics operative.
The Tugans are now in the custody of PDEA, to be prosecuted for violation of Republic Act 9165, also known as the Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.
Besides Shabu, PDEA personnel also recovered from them a Suzuki Raider motorcycle without a license plate and the pistol of the slain Mahmod.
The operation that resulted in the death of Mahmod and the arrest of the Tugans was preceded by a drug sting in Buluan, Maguindanao Thursday by personnel of PDEA-BARMM that led to the seizure of P170,000 worth of shabu from Jhetrue Mastura Tantong, who was also killed for resisting arrest.
The PDEA-BARMM entrapment operation in Buluan was assisted by members of the municipal police and the Army’s 40th Infantry Battalion.