Pregnant mom, 10 others arrested in Cotabato City drug op

COTABATO CITY — An anti-drug operation here Monday night netted three women, including a pregnant mother, and eight men who were allegedly clients of a drug den in Barangay Poblacion 2, this city.

Director Juvenal Azurin of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency – Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (PDEA-BARMM), said they launched the anti-drug operation after a series of surveillance confirmed the illegal drug activities inside the residence of a certain “Ali.”

Azurin said they are withholding the identities of the suspects pending follow-up operations, including the alleged drug den owner.

Backed by police and soldiers from the Army’s 5th Special Forces Battalion, PDEA operatives caught the suspects holding pot session inside a house-cum-drug den in Purok Pagkakaisa, Barangay Poblacion 2.

Following their arrest, the pregnant woman, when asked by reporters if she really uses illegal drugs, she replied: “for past time only.”

The two other women said they used drugs for “for personal reasons.”

The suspects are detained at the PDEA-BARMM custodial facility while charges for violation of Republic Act 9165 (Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002) are being prepared against them. -P