5 peddlers nabbed in 2 drug busts
Local News • 11:00 AM Thu Nov 17, 2022
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By:
John M. Unson
DETAINED: Elias Decampong Batuan and Omaira Abedin, who fell in a P20,400 worth of shabu deal with non-uniformed policemen in Marawi City, are now detained. (Photo courtesy of Lanao del Sur Provincial Police Office)
COTABATO CITY - Authorities entrapped five drug dealers, two of them with links to the Dawlah Islamiya group, in separate operations Tuesday.
The first to fall were Elias Decampong Batuan, 41, and his female accomplice, Omaira Abedin, 43, detained after selling P20,400 worth of shabu to non-uniformed policemen in a tradeoff in Barangay Loksadatu in Marawi City.
Sources from the Army’s 103rd Infantry Brigade and relatives of both suspects said Batuan and Abedin remitted parts of their earnings to certain leaders of the Dawlah Islamiya terror group in Lanao del Sur province.
Col. Jibin Bongcayao, Lanao del Sur provincial police director, said Thursday the duo is now detained at the Marawi City Police Office, awaiting prosecution for violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.
Bongcayao said the sting that led to the arrest of Batuan and Abedin was jointly carried out by combined personnel of the Marawi City and Lanao Sur provincial police forces.
In South Cotabato, agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency 12 nabbed late Tuesday three shabu peddlers operating a clandestine drug den in Barangay San Jose in Koronadal City.
Koronadal City is the capital of South Cotabato province.
Naravy Duquiatan, director of PDEA 12, said Wednesday Christopher Panes, 30, Fidel Oraño, 35, and the 28-year-old Raffy Jay Valeriano, are now clamped down in a detention facility.
The three men were frisked and cuffed after selling P81,600 worth of shabu in an entrapment operation at about 8:00 p.m. Tuesday in Barangay San Jose, to non-uniformed agents of PDEA-12 and policemen under units of the Police Regional Office 12.
Duquitan said the suspects operated a small drug den in Barangay San Jose.