3 drug den operators in Tawi-Tawi arrested

COTABATO CITY — Three men operating a drug den were arrested and jailed after selling P183,600 worth of shabu to anti-narcotics agents during an entrapment operation in Simunul town, Tawi-Tawi, on Sunday, February 8.

Local officials and agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency–Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (PDEA-BARMM) in Tawi-Tawi confirmed to reporters on Monday, February 9, that all three suspects are now in police custody at a detention facility in Bongao, the provincial capital.

Edgar Jubay, PDEA-BARMM’s regional director, said on Monday that their agents, backed by police officers, immediately arrested the three suspects after they sold 15 grams of shabu, worth P183,600, inside their drug den in Bohe Indangan, Laa Island, Simunul, one of Tawi-Tawi’s 11 towns.

Jubay said the entrapment operation that led to the arrest of the three suspects, supported by units of the Police Regional Office–BARMM in Tawi-Tawi, was carried out with the help of villagers aware of the suspects’ shabu trafficking in Simunul and nearby towns. The suspects also jointly owned a clandestine drug den where they held drug sessions for buyers from surrounding barangays.

Jubay said all three suspects will be prosecuted for violating the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, with the confiscated shabu serving as evidence.