GENERAL SANTOS CITY — Anti-drug operatives arrested two alleged drug pushers who were listed as “high-value targets” in separate operations in South Cotabato province and in this city.
Elements of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) 12 (Soccsksargen) arrested Allan Bayao Aminola, alias Mads, 23, in an entrapment in Barangay Poblacion, Tupi town, South Cotabato on Tuesday night.
Valente Cariño, PDEA-12 director, said the suspect was arrested at about 7 p.m. after selling a sachet of suspected methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu to a PDEA agent who posed as a buyer.
In a subsequent search, he said Aminola yielded several sachets of shabu weighing a total of 20 grams and valued at about PHP100,000, a mobile phone, and the PHP1,000 marked bill used in the buy-bust operation.
The official said the suspect, a resident of Purok 7, Barangay Bunao in Tupi, was included in the drug watch list of the agency and the Tupi municipal police.
“He was involved in major drug transactions, as shown by the recovered (pieces of) evidence,” Cariño said.
He said the suspect, who is currently detained at the PDEA-12 lockup here, will be charged with violation of Sections 5 and 11 or selling and possession of dangerous drugs under Article II of Republic Act (RA) No. 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.
Meanwhile, in this city, police operatives arrested on Wednesday morning an alleged shabu supplier of taxi and multicab drivers plying the city airport.
Senior Insp. Fernando Manuel, chief of the Fatima Police, said Miswari Madi was arrested after yielding suspected shabu during a search at an eatery owned by his family along the diversion road at MC Village in Barangay Fatima.
He said they specifically found four sachets of shabu in a sling bag stashed at the eatery’s kitchen area.
Operatives also found several small rooms at the back of the eatery that were reportedly used by the suspect’s clients for shabu sessions, he said.
Manuel said the suspect had been identified as the source of shabu by a taxi driver and a multicab driver, who were earlier arrested for drug possession.
He said they subjected the suspect to a series of validation and surveillance operations and eventually confirmed his illegal activities.
“He personally gets his drug supplies from a source in Cotabato City, then peddles them to taxi and multicab drivers, with his eatery as front,” he said.
Madi, he said, also drives a multicab plying the city airport and had been elected president of their group.
Manuel said they also served another search warrant at the house of Samsudin Kusin in Zone 2, Barangay Fatima, and recovered three sachets of suspected shabu.
However, the suspect was not around during the raid and is now the subject of a manhunt, he said. (PNA)
