COTABATO CITY (September 11) — Shabu valued at P5.4 million was recovered by Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency agents on Tuesday, September 9, in two different operations in southern Mindanao.
PDEA-12 director Benjamin Recites III told reporters on Wednesday that, with the assistance of local officials, their officers had conducted an entrapment operation in Barangay Sinawal, General Santos City, and seized P2 million worth of shabu from four traffickers.
After selling their illegal products during an exchange in a remote location within the same barangay, the four suspects were promptly handcuffed and taken into custody by PDEA-12 officials.
According to Recites, troops from Police Regional Office-12, directed by Brig. Gen. Arnold Ardiente, provided support for the operation that resulted in the arrest of the four suspects.
Earlier that same day, PDEA-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao agents detained a male drug trafficker in Barangay Poblacion, Saguiaran, Lanao del Sur, and confiscated P3.4 million worth of shabu in a separate entrapment operation.
According to PDEA-BARMM director Gil Cesario Castro, the suspect’s extensive shabu trafficking was reported by Saguiaran’s traditional Maranao leaders and local authorities, which allowed their operatives to plan the entrapment operation that resulted in his arrest.
Castro stated that the Bangsamoro regional police director, Brig. Gen. Jaysen De Guzman, and the Lanao del Sur Provincial Police Office, their immediate superior, helped with their operation in Saguiaran.
Separately, Recites and Castro informed reporters that the suspects detained in the two operations would face charges related to violations of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.
