5 nabbed in latest PDEA operations in Region 12
GENERAL SANTOS CITY --- A courier of a large drug syndicate fell in an entrapment Monday in Barangay Apopong here, barely a week after his five cohorts were arrested in nearby Koronadal City.
Melvin Cortal was caught in the act of turning over methamphetamine hydrochloride (shabu) to agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-12 in a sting laid with the help of the city police and local officials.
PDEA-12 agents recovered from his possession almost P70,000 worth of shabu. Cortal’s arrest was preceded by an operation by PDEA-12 in Koronadal City that resulted in the arrest of five people operating a drug den there.
In a statement Monday, the PDEA-12 said the suspects, Hilda, Ryan and Raul, all surnamed Lano, Reynaldo Belleza and Marvin Natar, are now detained, to be prosecuted for violation of the Comprehensive Philippine Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.
They were cornered by combined agents of PDEA-12 and personnel of the South Cotabato provincial police in Barangay Zone III in Koronadal City, acting on tips by vigilant neighbors.