P361,760 worth shabu seized in Tawi-Tawi police ops
COTABATO CITY --- The police seized a total of P361,760 worth of shabu from a six-member drug ring in Bongao, Tawi-Tawi, busted Wednesday with the help of local officials.
Brig. Gen. Eden Ugale, director of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro, said Thursday the six suspects were arrested in two separate operations by combined personnel of the Tawi-Tawi provincial and the Bongao municipal police offices.
The first to fall were Nelson Arek Amanun, Asiah Hattang Arik and Aldinon Mangkabong Arpa, nabbed in Barangay Tubig Tanah, Bongao in an operation premised on reports by vigilant villagers privy to their distribution of shabu in the area.
Ugale said police agents confiscated from them P346,960.00 worth of shabu.
Their accomplices, Benjie Jaafar Hamsaluddin, Sam Baluan Halilullah and Dawin Takallah Arabain were cornered in a subsequent operation in Barangay Simandagit, Bongao the same day.
Policemen who carried out the operation that led to their arrest recovered from them P14,960.00 worth of shabu, according to Ugale.
Ugale said credit for the arrest of the six drug dealers should go to the chief of the Bongao municipal police, Major Annidul Sali, and barangay officials who provided information about their distribution of shabu in two barangays in the municipality.
In a statement Thursday, the Bongao municipal police said all six men are now detained, to be prosecuted for violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002. (John Felix Unson)