2 suspects fall in Marawi drug bust; 1 kg of shabu seized

ILIGAN CITY, Lanao del Norte, Philippines — A composite team of soldiers, police officers, and drug enforcement agents arrested two suspected drug traders and seized a kilogram of crystal meth, locally known as shabu, in their possession in a drug buy-bust operation in Marawi City Saturday.

Maj. Arvin John Encinas, Western Mindanao Command spokesperson, said that Jamil Khalil, also known as Nur-Yahya, and Sarangani Bangcorong Khalil, also known as Marlon, agreed to sell shabu worth P1.5 million to a government undercover agent.

When the transaction was just consummated at the Amai Pakpak National Highway in Datu Saber village, operatives rushed in to arrest the suspects, both of whom are residents of Barangay Kiratan in Molundo, Lanao del Sur.

Seized from them were two ziplock packets containing a kilogram of shabu. Authorities also confiscated six identification cards.

The office of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency PDEA) in the Bangsamoro Region has taken custody of the suspects pending the filing of cases against them.

PDEA agent Abraham Kalim estimated the shabu to be valued at P6.8 million if sold on retail.

This is the second buy-bust operation in the year that netted a kilo of shabu. The first was in January.

Col. Jose Maria Cuerpo, commander of the Army’s 103rd Brigade, said they will continue to support the PDEA in going after traders of illegal drugs in Lanao del Sur.

Cuerpo added that locals had already come out to tell authorities the identities of drug dealers in the province.

Marawi Mayor Majul Gandamra has said that the city is only the meeting place of drug traders and not a host of a shabu laboratory as insinuated by various groups in social media due to the series of drug arrests there.

/atm