COTABATO CITY — At least 14 drug personalities were arrested during intensified anti-drug operations by narcotics agents and police in this city Friday, authorities said Saturday.
Director Bryan Babang of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (PDEA-ARMM), said the series of operations were conducted in separate areas in the city known to have been infiltrated by drug pushers and users.
Armed with search warrants, PDEA-ARMM operatives, backed by members of the Cotabato City Police and the Army’s Special Forces Battalion, raided Barangay Rosary Heights 10 and arrested Friday morning Mohaliden Mamarinta, 33, Karim Kirat, 40 and Tahir Minalang, 33.
The raiding team seized 11 sachets of suspected methamphetamine hydrochloride and shabu paraphenalia.
At past 4 p.m. Friday, the same anti-narcotics operatives raided a safe house in Barangay Bagua Mother, Cotabato City and arrested 11 drug personalities.
The narcotics agents first arrested Samia Ngodong, and couple Catherine Abas and Palarisan Abas, all included in the PDEA-ARMM watch list of suspected drug personalities.
Babang said while the authorities were processing the items seized from the suspects, they noticed a group of people in a nearby house.
When checking the house, they found eight other persons in the act of sniffing shabu.
Babang identified them as Adones Salik, Sagat Panda, Alrashid Jabal, Jose Nogra, Norillaine Guiapal, Ahmoud Ismael Biruar, Cos Makakua and home owner Joey Macabalang.
Babang said Macabalang’s home has been used as a drug den by users who regularly gather in his house located in the village’s squatters’ area.
All the suspects, currently detained at the PDEA-ARMM detention facility, will face charges of violating Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002. PNA-northboundasia.com