Trafficker wounded, P3.4-M worth of shabu seized in PDEA 9 operation

COTABATO CITY — Anti-narcotics agents seized P3.4 million worth of shabu from two traffickers, one wounded in a shootout, during an entrapment operation late Tuesday, March 31, in Ipil, Zamboanga Sibugay, which went haywire. 

Agents and officials of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency 9 told reporters on Wednesday, April 1, that the suspects, one of whom was immediately taken to a hospital for treatment, are now both in detention.

Bryan Babang, director of PDEA 9, said the duo first fled in a getaway vehicle toward Zamboanga City after realizing they had sold half a kilo of shabu to non-uniformed anti-narcotics agents in a location in Ipil, the provincial capital.

Babang said the suspects were cornered by pursuing PDEA 9 agents and policemen at the boundary of Zamboanga Sibugay and Zamboanga City, where one of them pulled out a pistol and opened fire, sparking a gunfight that left him wounded.

The suspects, both from Metro Manila, were eventually subdued and handcuffed by PDEA 9 agents with assistance from policemen from units of the Police Regional Office 9. The suspect injured in the shootout is now confined to a hospital.

Besides P3.4 million worth of shabu, PDEA 9 agents and policemen also confiscated a .45-caliber pistol and the Mitsubishi Montero SUV used by the suspects to transport shabu to their contacts in Region 9 and provinces in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.