P3.4M Worth of Shabu Seized from Terror Group-Linked Drug Dealer in Lanao del Sur

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Policemen seized P3.4 million worth of shabu from a trafficker linked to remnants of a defunct terror group, entrapped with the help of his relatives and local executives in Balindong, Lanao del Sur on Wednesday, July 22. Local officials and members of the multi-sector Lanao del Sur Provincial Peace and Order Council, whose chairperson is Gov. Mamintal Adiong Jr., told reporters on Friday that the suspect, whose name they withheld, in the meantime, while efforts to locate his accomplices in the province are still underway, is now detained. The male suspect was entrapped in Barangay Lalabuan in Balindong by different units of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, an operation planned with the help of his own relatives, who reported to officials of PRO-BAR and the Lanao del Sur Provincial Police Office his large-scale trafficking of shabu in different towns in the province. Captain Steffie Salanguit, spokesperson of PRO-BAR, said on Friday that the suspect was immediately arrested after selling half a kilo of shabu, costing P3.4 million, to combined operatives from the Regional Drug Enforcement Unit and personnel of different police units in Lanao del Sur during a tradeoff in Barangay Lalabuan in Balindong. Local executives and officials of the Army’s 103rd Infantry Brigade and its component battalions in the province confirmed to reporters on Friday that the suspect shared fractions of his earnings with remnants of the Dawlah Islamiya to enable him to sell shabu and marijuana openly in their enclaves. Police Brig. Gen. Christopher Abecia, director of PRO-BAR, said provincial officials in Lanao del Sur, including Adiong, now a second-term governor, supported the entrapment operation that resulted in the arrest of the suspect and confiscation from him of P3.4 million worth of shabu. Salanguit said PRO-BAR will use the P3.4 million worth of shabu confiscated from the suspect as evidence in prosecuting him for violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.