5 operators of drug den in Cotabato City arrested
COTABATO CITY --- Authorities arrested Friday five drug dealers operating a clandestine drug den in a secluded area in the city.
Ali Uto Sampulna, Moamar Esmael, Rashid Sanduyugan, Juharto Tadtahan and Tato Silongan are now detained in the office here of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
Juvenal Azurin, director of PDEA-BARMM, said Saturday the suspects voluntarily turned themselves in when they sensed that their drug den in Bulioa area here had been surrounded by anti-narcotics agents and personnel of the Cotabato City police, ready to strike if they resist arrest.
Azurin said members of the police’s Highway Patrol Group helped carry out the operation that resulted in the arrest of the five drug dealers.
Azurin said he is thankful to the barangay officials who provided tips on the group’s illegal activities.
PDEA-BARMM agents confiscated from them 10 grams of shabu and a mobile phone with numbers of their contacts in the city and in nearby towns in Maguindanao.