Koronadal City police chief Lt. Col. Joefel Siason (PNA-GenSan file photo)
KORONADAL CITY -- Joint anti-drug operatives arrested an alleged drug courier and peddler from Maguindanao and recovered some PHP170,000 worth of suspected shabu in an entrapment operation here on Friday night.
Lt. Col. Joefel Siason, city police chief, identified the suspect as Fahad Usman, 30, a resident of Barangay Dapyawan, Datu Saudi Ampatuan town in Maguindanao.
Siason said Usman was nabbed by elements of the city police drug enforcement unit, in coordination with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency 12 (Soccsksargen), in a buy-bust at the corner of Aquino Street and General Santos Drive in Barangay Zone III at about 7:25 p.m.
He said that during the operation, Usman sold a sachet of suspected shabu worth PHP1,000 to a police officer who posed as a buyer.
The suspect also yielded a medium and a large sachet of suspected shabu with an estimated street value of PHP170,000 and various drug paraphernalia.
Siason said Usman is considered as a “newly-identified drug personality” in the city.
Based on their intelligence monitoring, he said, Usman gets his shabu supplies in Maguindanao and travels to the area to deliver and peddle.
“His network is quite extensive and we consider him as a high-value target based on the volume of the recovered shabu,” he said in an interview on Saturday.
Siason said they submitted the recovered shabu and other evidence to the regional crime laboratory for proper examination.
The suspect, who is detained at the Koronadal City police station lockup, will be charged with selling and possession of dangerous drugs, as well as possession of drug paraphernalia. (PNA)
