DRUG BUST. Government operatives arrest two suspected big-time drug pushers (wearing white baseball caps) and seize suspected shabu with an estimated street value of PHP3.4 million in an anti-drug operation in Purok 2, Barangay Eastern in Wao, Lanao del Sur on Tuesday (Nov. 29, 2022). The anti-drug operation was launched after the suspects were put under surveillance. (Photo courtesy of Area Police Command-Western Mindanao)
ZAMBOANGA CITY – Authorities have arrested two alleged big-time drug pushers and seized suspected shabu with an estimated street value of PHP3.4 million in an anti-drug operation in Lanao del Sur province, a top police official said Wednesday.
Col. Richard Verceles, operations chief of the Area Police Command - Western Mindanao, said Jamel Sandulog Mabpan, 34, and Daud Tidong Lios, 41, were arrested in a buy-bust operation in Purok 2, Barangay Eastern in Wao, Lanao del Sur at about 1 p.m. on Tuesday.
Verceles said the two were arrested after they conspired to sell and handed over the illegal drug to an undercover government agent posing as a buyer.
He said seized from them were about 500 grams of suspected shabu packed in five transparent plastic packs, six bundles of photocopied PHP1,000 bills topped with one genuine PHP1,000 bill as buy-bust money, a cellular phone, and a motorcycle.
Verceles said the police and agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) launched the operation after putting the two suspects under surveillance.
He said a case for violation of Republic Act 9165, otherwise known as the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, is being readied against the suspects who were placed under the custody of PDEA in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
On November 25, policemen arrested four people as they dismantled a drug den in Barangay Lilod-Maguing in Magujing, Lanao del Sur.
The Lanao del Sur provincial drug enforcement unit, led by Lt. Col. Thomas Pantaleon Jr., seized 25 grams of suspected shabu with an estimated street value of PHP170,000 and illegal drug paraphernalia. (PNA)
