7 Lanao del Sur drug dealers linked to terror group arrested
COTABATO CITY --- Seven drug dealers with links to the Dawlah Islamiya fell in a government entrapment operation in Marantao, Lanao del Sur Monday.
Gontora Musib Agar, Saoeki Marakna Mala, Asnawi Musid Gontora, Ansano Musid Gontora, Aber Dimao Mustapa, Abdul Kaher Gontor and Onaes Abul Kader are now clamped down in a detention facility of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
They were immediately frisked and cuffed after selling P136,000 worth of shabu to non-uniformed PDEA-BARMM agents during a tradeoff Monday in Tuka Kialdan in Marantao town, not too distant from Marawi City, the provincial capital.
In a statement Tuesday, the PDEA-BARMM regional office here said the operation that resulted in the arrest of the seven suspects was assisted by different police units in Lanao del Sur and the Army’s 51st Infantry Battalion.
Besides shabu, PDEA-BARMM agents also seized from them an M14 assault rifle and a submachinegun.
The PDEA-BARMM said the suspects shall be prosecuted separately for violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 and illegal possession of firearms.
Senior members of different municipal peace and order councils in Lanao del Sur have confirmed to reporters that the group shared fractions of their earnings from their shabu distribution activities to leaders of the Dawlah Islamiya in the province.