COTABATO CITY – A town councilor in Lanao del Sur, two former municipal council members, and their alleged cohort were arrested by authorities during an anti-drug operation in Marawi City on Thursday.
Director Juvenal Azurin of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in the Bangsamoro Region in Muslim Mindanao (PDEA-BARMM) said anti-narcotics agents seized more than PHP6.8 million worth of shabu during the operation.
Joint operatives of the PDEA-BARMM and the Army’s 103rd Infantry Brigade carried the entrapment at past 10 a.m. in Barangay Matampay, Marawi City.
Azurin identified the suspects as Simpanor Capal Salic, a councilor of Tagoloan town, Lanao del Sur; Esnaira Capal, and Malik Pangcoga Hadji Sali, former members of the Tagoloan Sangguniang Bayan; and Rodrigo Sequino.
“The suspects were arrested after selling a kilo of shabu to a PDEA undercover agent,” Azurin said.
He said two luxury vehicles, a white Toyota Hi-Lux and black Toyota Fortuner, were also seized from the suspects who did not resist arrest but was “visibly stunned” upon seeing they were surrounded by heavily armed government forces minutes after the transaction was completed.
The suspects are now detained at Lanao del Sur police provincial office pending the filing of charges for violation of R.A 9165 (Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002) at the provincial prosecutor’s office. PNA
