Cops seize P6.8 million worth of shabu in Lanao operation

OTABATO CITY, Philippines — Policemen seized P6.8 million worth of shabu from three dealers, one of them a woman, entrapped in Lumbatan town in Lanao del Sur on Tuesday afternoon, March 24.

Local executives in Lumbatan said on Thursday that they will help the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region prosecute the suspects, Jamen Malimgas Blo, Jamel Blo Mamacotao and their female accomplice, Jhohanie Macalangan Nabel, for violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.

Brig. Gen. Jaysen De Guzman, director of PRO-BAR, told reporters on Thursday that the suspects were immediately detained by policemen after selling shabu to them during a tradeoff in Barangay Pantar in Lumbatan, one of the 39 towns in Lanao del Sur in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

Agents from PRO-BAR’s Regional Drug Enforcement Unit, led by Lt. Col. Tan Bulaglag, their operatives in Lanao del Sur, among them Capt. Mubbarak Dimakuta, and personnel of other Bangsamoro police units in the province confiscated then from Blo, Mamacotao and Nabel a kilo of shabu, costing P6.8 million, a Yamaha 155 Aerox motorcycle and a red Mazda car that they used in delivering their illegal merchandise to local contacts.

De Guzman said municipal officials, traditional Maranao leaders in Lumbatan and Lanao del Sur Gov. Mamintal Adiong Jr. were instrumental in the operation that resulted in the arrest of the three suspects and confiscation from them of one kilo of shabu, a car and a motorcycle.

De Guzman said the entrapment operation was based on reports by vigilant residents of Lumbatan to their municipal officials and to Adiong, who is chairperson of the Lanao del Sur Provincial Peace and Order Council, about the shabu and marijuana trafficking activities of Blo, Mamacotao and Nabel in the province.

The three suspects are now detained, awaiting prosecution in court.