GENERAL SANTOS CITY — Police recovered more than PHP400,000 worth of suspected methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu in separate operations in the last two days in South Cotabato province.
Senior Supt. Nestor Salcedo, South Cotabato police director, said Tuesday the illegal drugs were seized from two target-listed pushers during buy-bust operations in Sto. Niño town and in Koronadal City.
Salcedo said Sto. Niño municipal police station personnel arrested suspect Jaypee Ambalgan Masolot, 30, in an entrapment at around 3:30 p.m. Sunday at his house in Purok Malipayon, Barangay Ambalgan.
Masolot sold a sachet of suspected shabu worth PHP700 to a police officer who posed as a buyer, Salcedo said. The suspect yielded in a subsequent search a jumbo pack of suspected shabu with an estimated street value of P400,000, he added.
Chief Insp. Diogenes Hare, chief of the Sto. Niño police station, tagged the suspect as among the top suppliers of shabu in Ambalgan and neighboring areas.
Hare said Masolot, who was included on the town’s drug watch list, is allegedly linked to a drug group operating in Maguindanao. The suspect’s illegal drug supplies reportedly come from a major source in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao, he said.
In Koronadal City, operatives arrested suspect Musib Dalandan Kabo alias “Mosib,” 27, in a buy-bust along the national highway in Barangay Morales at around 3:15 p.m. Monday.
Supt. Benjiel Kirby Bajo, Koronadal City police chief, said the suspect was nabbed after selling a large sachet of suspected shabu worth 1,000 to a police officer who posed as a buyer.
Bajo said Kabo also yielded a large-sized plastic pack and one small sachet of suspected shabu valued at around P11,200.
“We were able to track him down through the help of our civilian assets,” the police official said.
Kabo, who was included on the city’s drug watch list, hails from Barangay Sampao in Lutayan, Sultan Kudarat but temporarily residing at Purok Kings, Barangay General Paulino Santos, Koronadal City. (Alejandro Saludo/PNA)