COTABATO CITY – Anti-narcotics operatives arrested Thursday night a high-profile drug peddler and seized from him more than P1 million worth of shabu (crystal meth).
Juvenal Azurin, regional director of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (PDEA-ARMM), said Alladin Kendatu, 38, agreed to sell more than P1 million worth of shabu to a prospective buyer at 8:30 p.m., Thursday.
As soon as he handed over three huge sachets of shabu and took the bag that contained the P1 million “show money,” he was arrested by the PDEA agents.
Azurin said Kendatu, a resident of Barangay Ungap, Sultan Kudarat town in Maguindanao, had been considered a high-value target and had been placed under surveillance by PDEA and Army Special Forces.
Azurin said Kendatu did not resist arrest although he was “visibly” surprised.
He would face charges for violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act.
He also said PDEA-ARMM was trying to determine if the stuff seized from Kendatu was part of the shabu shipment that slipped past the Bureau of Customs using magnetic lifters.
Earlier, PDEA national office said some of the shabu recovered in various parts of the country had been part of the illegal stuff taken from magnetic lifters.