COTABATO CITY – Operatives of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) nabbed Thursday afternoon a Manila-based “drug peddler” and his pal, allegedly a member of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), and seized from them some PHP1.3-million worth of “shabu” drugs in Datu Odin Sinsuat town, Maguindanao.
PDEA-Autonomous Region in Muslim (PDEA-ARMM) Director Juvenal Azurin identified those collared in the buy-bust operation as Ramid Depatuan, 36, of Baseco compound, Manila, and Ken Kalaing, 41, also a Baseco resident and an MNLF member based on his identification card.
“After confirming their illegal activities, a drug buy-bust was planned and they agreed to release about 50 grams of shabu in exchange for PHP130,000 to our poseur-buyer,” Azurin said of the entrapment in Sitio Tenorio, Barangay Awang, Maguindanao at 4:30 p.m. Thursday.
“The deal area was only about 700 meters away from the first entrance gate of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division headquarters,” he added.
After the suspects handed over a huge sachet of suspected “shabu” to the poseur-buyer, PDEA agents immediately apprehended Depatuan and Kalaing, who both did not resist arrest.
Seized from them were 500 grams of “shabu” with an estimated street value of PHP1.3 million, a motorbike used in the illegal drug trade, two black wallets and mobile phones.
Azurin said the suspects are being detained at the PDEA lockup while charges are being readied against them.
Depatuan and Kalaing’s arrest came a day after PDEA-ARMM agents nabbed in this city a “big-time drug peddler”, from whom they seized PHP1.7-M worth of “shabu”. (Noel Punzalan and Edwin Fernandez/PNA)
