CONFISCATED. The PHP3.4-million worth of shabu seized from suspect Nadzmie Ameril, a passenger van driver, during a drug buy-bust operation in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao on Thursday (Feb. 13, 2020). The suspect was collared after two weeks of surveillance by anti-narcotics agents. (Photo courtesy of PDEA-BARMM)
DATU ODIN SINSUAT, Maguindanao – A passenger van driver allegedly moonlighting as a big-time drug peddler was arrested by anti-narcotics operatives here on Thursday and seized PHP3.4 million worth of shabu from him, an official said.
Director Juvenal Azurin of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (PDEA-BARMM), said PDEA agents arrested suspected drug peddler Nadzmie Ameril, alias "Samir", during the 11 a.m. entrapment operation.
Ameril, a resident of Guindulungan, Maguindanao was driving a passenger van plying the Cotabato-General Santos City route when nabbed in Barangay Makir here.
“The suspect was arrested while he was handing over a half kilo of shabu beside the national highway to an undercover agent,” Azurin said.
Asnawi Adil Salik, PDEA-BARMM operations division chief, said Ameril was placed under surveillance for at least two weeks before his arrest.
Ameril admitted he sold the illegal stuff to a buyer but unaware he was a PDEA undercover agent. “I regret getting into illegal activities,” Ameril told reporters after his arrest Thursday.
Elements of the Datu Odin Sinsuat municipal office and the Army’s 90th Infantry Battalion backed the PDEA agents during the operation.
Seized from the suspect was a half kilo of shabu, marked money, mobile phones, and paraphernalia that the PDEA will use in filing a case against Ameril for violating Republic Act 9165 (Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002).
Ameril is currently detained inside the PDEA-BARMM custodial facility in Cotabato City. (PNA)
