3 wanted drug dealers nabbed in PDEA-12 operations

COTABATO CITY --- Anti-narcotics agents arrested three large-scale drug traffickers in separate operations Friday in central Mindanao.Valente Cariño, director of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency for Region 12, said Saturday the now detained Norodin Lawas, Mark Cantoneros and Alex Cañon are to be prosecuted separately for violation of the provisions of the Philippine Dangerous Drugs Act.Lawas was arrested by combined PDEA-12 agents and personnel of the local police in Maasim town in Sarangani province.Valente said Lawas belong to the notorious Premo drug syndicate.The group, whose members include Islamic State-inspired militants, peddles methamphetamine hydrochloride (shabu) in South Cotabato and Sarangani provinces in Region 12.Cantoneros and Cañon were nabbed in separate joint PDEA and police operations in Taran Subdivision in Kidapawan City and in Barrio 2 in Koronadal City, respectively.Local officials and barangay leaders reportedly assisted the PDEA-12 in locating the three men, all included in the agency’s list of top 20 most wanted drug dealers in central Mindanao.