COTABATO CITY – Anti-narcotics agents arrested on Monday three high-value targets (HVTs) in separate buy-bust operations in North Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat provinces.
Brig. Gen. Michael John Dubria, Police Regional Office (PRO) 12 (Soccsksargen) director, said the arrest of the suspects resulted in the combined confiscation of suspected shabu with an estimated street value of more than PHP100,000.
In Makilala, North Cotabato, police and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) personnel arrested Dexter Calope Minguito, 33, while in the act of selling shabu in Barangay Poblacion on Monday morning.
Recovered from him were several sachets of suspected shabu and the PHP500 marked money.
“Minguito is tagged as the second most-wanted individual in North Cotabato’s provincial-level drug watch list,” Dubria said in a statement on Tuesday.
In Sultan Kudarat province, police also nabbed Sonny Catalbas Guardiano, 44, after falling in an entrapment operation in Barangay Poblacion, Tacurong City.
Police said the suspect yielded some 11 grams of suspected shabu in various plastic packet sizes with an estimated street value of PHP74,000, two mobile phones, and two PHP500 bills used as marked money.
Dubria said Guardiano is on the top 10 "recalibrated priority list" of suspected drug offenders of both PRO-12 and PDEA-12.
Several hours later, police operatives also pounced on suspect Alvin Manapalas Baguil, 22, of Barangay Dansuli, Isulan, Sultan Kudarat, for allegedly dealing illegal drugs with a poseur-buyer.
“Baguil rose from being (a) street-level drug peddler to a municipal-level target category over the past several months of our surveillance,” Dubria said.
Baguil yielded five medium-sized packets of suspected shabu weighing about 4.6 grams, with a street market value of PHP30,000 and other pieces of evidence, police said.
Dubria said all three detained suspects were charged for violating Republic Act 9165, also known as the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002. (PNA)
