4 illegal drug den operators in Cotabato City arrested

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Anti-narcotics agents seized 28 sachets of shabu from four dealers, two of them women, entrapped on Thursday right in their clandestine drug den in Barangay Mother Tamontaka here that their neighbors and villagers from nearby areas frequented.

Gil Cesario Castro, director of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, told reporters on Saturday that the four suspects, Mohamar Datukaka Mohammad, Junry Mamalinta Riman, Armiya Sali Roman and Regina Roman Mamalinta, are now locked in their detention facility at the PC Hill Complex in this city.

Mohammad, Riman, Roman and Mamalinta yielded peacefully when combined PDEA-BARMM agents and operatives from different units of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region frisked and cuffed them during a P102,000 worth shabu tradeoff right in their drug den in a secluded area in Barangay Tamontaka Mother.

Castro said it was vigilant residents of Barangay Tamontaka Mother who reported the illegal activities of Mohammadm Riman, Roman and Mamalinta, enabling them to plan the sting that resulted in their arrest and confiscation from them of 28 sachets of shabu, worth P102,000, to be used as evidence in prosecuting them for violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.

PDEA-BARMM agents and policemen who supported the operation found shabu-sniffing paraphernalia in their drug den, immediately shutdown in the presence of barangay officials.