COTABATO CITY – Agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency – Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (PDEA-ARMM) arrested here Thursday a former village councilor for possession and peddling of illegal drugs.
Juvenal Azurin, PDEA-ARMM director, said Josephine Mangindalat, former village councilwoman of Poblacion 7, Cotabato City, and her husband Elmer, a former village chief in Pikit, North Cotabato, yielded several sachets of suspected methamphetamine hydrochloride or “shabu” in the suspects’ home along Quezon Ave., this city.
Armed with a search warrant issued by the Regional Trial Court Branch 13 here, the PDEA raiding team, backed by the city police and city anti-drug abuse council personnel, swooped down on the house of the suspects at about 5 a.m. and carried out the court order.
However, only the former village councilwoman was around and arrested, as her husband was out of the house during the law enforcement operation.
“They are our high-value targets and included in the PDEA watch list of big-time drug personalities,” Azurin said.
“They peddle illegal drugs in North Cotabato and here in Cotabato City,” he added.
A follow-up operation is underway against the male suspect, Azurin said.
Seized during the search operation were two big sachets of suspected shabu with an estimated total street value of PHP142,800 and three mobile phones believed to be used by the suspects in illegal transactions.
Charges for violation of Republic Act No. 9165 (Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002) are being prepared against the female suspect now locked up at the PDEA-ARMM detention facility, this city. (Edwin Fernandez/PNA)
