P20.4M worth shabu left by Sulu runaway courier
TIMRA Reports • 13:45 PM Mon Apr 10, 2023
1
By:
John M. Unson
The P20.4-M shabu left behind by runaway Almando Insali. (From PDEA-BARMM)
COTABATO CITY - Anti-narcotics agents seized P20.4 million worth of shabu that a dealer tried to smuggle into the town proper of Luuk in Sulu province before dawn Saturday.
The suspect, Almando Insali, managed to run away and leave his illegal merchandise behind when he noticed anti-narcotics agents, policemen and personnel of the Philippine Coast Guard blocking the route towards the center of Luuk.
Insali hails from Zamboanga City and has been delivering shabu personally to Luuk and nearby towns, according to police and military intelligence units in Sulu.
Christian Frivaldo, director of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, told reporters here Sunday the plot to corner Insali was hatched after vigilant residents of Sulu reported his peddling of shabu from Zamboanga City to contacts in Luuk.
“He ran away when he sensed there was a combined team of law-enforcement personnel waiting for him. He left behind the shabu he was to deliver to somewhere in Luuk municipality,” Frivaldo said.
Brig. Gen. Allan Nobleza, director of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, said Sunday personnel of the Luuk Municipal Police Station and the Sulu Provincial Police are together trying to locate Insali with the help of military units in the island province.
Agents of PDEA-BARMM and personnel of different PRO-BAR units in Sulu have seized some P30 million worth of shabu in joint anti-narcotics operations in different towns in the island province in the past 12 months.