By Edwin Fernandez/ PNA
COTABATO CITY – After weeks of surveillance operations, agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in Region 12 (PDEA-12) dismantled a drug den in Kabacan, North Cotabato and arrested its owner and four other suspects.
Naravy Duquiatan, PDEA-12 director, said anti-narcotics operatives backed by the Kabacan police and the North Cotabato Police Provincial Mobile Force Company, served the search warrant against Lerio Mapano in his home in Barangay Poblacion, Kabacan at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Duquiatan said Mapano, 47, a high-value target, has been using his home as drug den with drug personalities coming in for shabu sessions any time of the day.
Arrested with Mapano were Tony Aglutay, 45; Elmer Maticyeng, 48; Richard Madrid, 35; and Dexter Fernandez, 51, all residents of Barangay Poblacion.
“Mapano has been using farming as a front to cover up his illegal drug business with Aglutay and Maticyeng working for him as den caretakers and runners of illegal drugs,” Duquiatan said.
Confiscated during the operation were two large sachets of suspected shabu weighing 10 grams with an estimated street value of PHP68,000, three aluminum foil strips, a disposable lighter, an air gun, and mobile phones.
Charges for violation of RA 9165, otherwise known as the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, are being readied against the suspects who are now detained at the Kabacan police detention cell.
Duquiatan said that based on the agency’s monitoring, the supply of shabu in Region 12 has become scarce and its prices have shot up due to the intensified operations against illegal drugs.
According to Duquiatan, from the PHP5,000 per gram of shabu, the current price is now said to be PHP6,800 per gram.
She said Maguindanao province remains one of the main sources of prohibited drugs in Central Mindanao.
