Alleged MNLF official, 4 others nabbed in Maguindanao drug raid

COTABATO CITY – Joint police and anti-narcotics operatives arrested an alleged official of a Moro rebel group and four others during a raid on a drug den in Maguindanao on Sunday.

Juvenal Azurin, the director of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (PDEA-ARMM), identified those arrested as Juhery Sampulna Abdul, 39, alias “Tho,” who allegedly maintained the drug den in Sitio Siawan in Barangay Tamontaka in Datu Odin Sinsuat town; Muslimin Banigan Udtong, 27; Madelo Kasan Abdulkadir, 25; Datu Solban Makasasa Maulana, 22; and Abdillah B. Abdullah, 36.

He described Abdul as troop commander of the Muhtalla National Force Command of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF). Abdullah was also an alleged MNLF member.

Azurin said the joint operation was conducted at 6 a.m. after months of surveillance by the local police and PDEA agents.

Seized during the raid were 16 sachets of suspected shabu with an estimated market value of P100,000, a cal. 45 pistol, mobile phones and computer sets that contained illegal drug transactions.

Charges for violation of RA 9165 (Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002) and Republic Act 10591 (Illegal Possessions of Firearms and Ammunitions) were being readied against the arrested suspects, who were detained at the PDEA-ARMM custodial facility here. /je