Alleged MILF leader nabbed for drugs in Central Luzon

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO — A man identified as a member of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and suspected of operating as a bulk supplier of methamphetamine hydrochloride (shabu) in Central Luzon was arrested on Feb. 26, an official of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) said on Sunday.

Alan Lao, allegedly a platoon leader of the MILF, was arrested together with Andi and Latip Baraiman, said Gladys Rosales, PDEA director in Central Luzon.

The Philippine Daily Inquirer could not independently confirm if the 21-year-old Lao was indeed a leader of the MILF.

Lao and the Baraiman brothers are natives of Lanao del Sur and live in Barangay San Pablo in Castillejos town in Zambales province, Rosales said.

They were nabbed when Lao handed 50 grams or P230,000-worth of shabu to a poseur buyer in a shopping mall here last Friday.

PDEA believes he was “responsible for the bulk distribution of shabu” in Olongapo City in Zambales, Dinalupihan town in Bataan province as well as in Lubao and City of San Fernando, both in Pampanga province, according to Reyes.

The three men are now being held at the PDEA jail in the regional police headquarters in Camp Olivas here pending the filing of charges for selling dangerous drugs.

The Philippine government has been pushing the Bangsamoro Basic Law with the MILF to fulfill a peace agreement. The 16th Congress has not passed it into a law.  SFM