5 Shabu Traffickers Arrested, 2 Drug Dens Shut in Mindanao Operations

Agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) arrested five shabu traffickers and shut down their clandestine drug dens in separate operations on Tuesday, September 22, in the provinces of Lanao del Sur in the Bangsamoro region and Sarangani in Region 12. Agents of the PDEA-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, backed by policemen and personnel of the Army's 55th Infantry Battalion, immediately detained three men who sold shabu to them during an entrapment operation right in their drug den in Barangay Panang in Wao, a hinterland town in Lanao del Sur, one of the five provinces in BARMM. George Paul Alcovindas, director of PDEA-BARMM, said on Wednesday that their entrapment operation in Barangay Panang, a secluded area in Wao, led to the confiscation from the three suspects of 15 grams of shabu, costing at least P102,000, to be used as evidence in prosecuting them in court for violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002. Alcovindas said the operation was premised on reports by vigilant local executives in Wao about the illegal activities of the three suspects in Barangay Panang. PDEA-BARMM agents and personnel from different units of the Lanao del Sur Provincial Police Office and the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region immediately closed down the drug den of the suspects, where they facilitated pot sessions for neighbors and villagers from nearby barangays. Agents of PDEA 12 and policemen from units of the Police Regional Office 12 also clamped down on Tuesday on two male drug den operators after procuring shabu from them in Barangay Sapu Masla in Malapatan town in Sarangani province in Region 12. The two suspects were working for a drug den operator whom PDEA 12 agents identified only as Esmael, who is known for large-scale trafficking of shabu and marijuana in Malapatan and nearby towns in Sarangani. Esmael, who traded shots with PDEA 12 agents and policemen after turning over P13,000 worth of shabu to them, managed to run away. PDEA 12’s director, Charlene Magdurulang, said Esmael’s two accomplices voluntarily yielded when they sensed that their agents had surrounded their drug den, ready to open fire if they refused to cooperate. Magdurulang said that besides the police anti-narcotics agents from PRO 12, officials of the Malapatan Municipal Police Station and the Sarangani Provincial Police Office and the Army’s 73rd Infantry Battalion also supported their entrapment operation that resulted in the detention of the two suspects and closure of their drug den in Barangay Sapu Masla. Under state law, drug den operation is a non-bailable criminal offense.