P4.4-M worth shabu seized in 2 BARMM operations

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Law enforcers seized P4.4 million worth of shabu in separate entrapment operations in two Bangsamoro provinces on Friday, May 23.

Gil Cesario Castro, director of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, said on Saturday, May 24, that their agents had confiscated P3.4 million worth of shabu from a dealer entrapped on Friday in Barangay Sundig in Taraka, Lanao del Sur.

Castro said PDEA-BARMM agents immediately frisked and cuffed the suspect after selling to them half a kilo of shabu, costing P3.4 million, during a tradeoff in Barangay Sundig, laid with the help of operatives from different units in Lanao del Sur of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region.

Policemen had also arrested on the same day a peddler from whom they had procured P1 million worth of shabu during an entrapment operation in Barangay Kabuntalan in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao del Norte.

Police Brig. Gen. Romeo Juan Macapaz, PRO-BAR director, had told reporters that personnel of the Sultan Kudarat Municipal Police Station, led by their chief, Lt. Col. Esmael Madin, immediately detained the suspect after turning over to them P1 million worth of shabu during a tradeoff in Barangay Kabuntalan.

Madin had said on Saturday that the suspect is now in their custody, to be prosecuted for violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.