4 drug den operators arrested in Sultan Kudarat

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency 12 and policemen together shut down a drug den and arrested its four operators, three of them women, in an anti-narcotics operation in Barangay Kalawag 1 in Isulan, Sultan Kudarat on Thursday night, May 7.

Local executives and members of the multi-sector Isulan Municipal Peace and Order Council who supported the entrapment operation told reporters on Saturday that all four suspects are known for their peddling of marijuana and shabu in Isulan and nearby towns and for facilitating pot sessions in their drug den in Purok Masagana in Barangay Kalawag 1.

Charlene Magdurulang, director of PDEA 12, said on Saturday that the four drug dealers were immediately frisked and cuffed by their agents after selling shabu to them in the premises of their drug den, an operation assisted by units in Sultan Kudarat province of the Police Regional Office 12 and municipal officials.

Magdurulang said their agents and policemen from the Isulan Municipal Police Station and the Sultan Kudarat Provincial Police Office, both under PRO 12, conducted the operation after villagers had reported the shabu and marijuana trafficking activities of the four suspects.

PDEA 12 agents and policemen had seized from them P34,000 worth of shabu, which shall be used as evidence in their prosecution for violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.

Magdurulang said they are thankful to the director of PRO 12, Police Brig. Gen. Arnold Ardiente, for helping plot the operation that led to the arrest of the four suspects and the subsequent closure of their drug den.

Under state law, operating a drug den is a non-bailable offense.