Police officer, pal fall in Cotabato City drug buy-bust

COTABATO CITY – Anti-narcotics agents, backed by police and Marines, arrested a police officer and his companion on Friday night after they were caught selling P4.08 million worth of suspected meth during a drug buy-bust operation in front of a food chain here.

Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (PDEA-BARMM), headed by Director Gil Cesario P. Castro, identified the arrested suspects as Staff Sgt. Mujeeb Bitayo Sepi, currently assigned at the Sultan Kudarat municipal police station in Maguindanao del Norte, and his companion, Farida Alim Alfonso.

The suspects agreed to sell the prohibited substance to an undercover PDEA agent at 7 p.m. along Quezon Avenue, Cotabato City.

Joint PDEA agents, Police Station 1 operatives, and 5th Marine Battalion Landing Team troopers arrested the duo after the handover of the suspected meth.

PDEA agents seized a pistol, a plastic bag containing 12 huge sachets of suspected meth or shabu weighing some 600 grams, and mobile phones.

Detained at the PDEA custodial facility, the suspects are now awaiting the filing of formal charges for violation of RA 9165 (Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act).

It was the second confiscation of prohibited drugs by PDEA-BARMM since December 29 when agents seized 500 grams of shabu worth P3.4 million from a big-time drug peddler in Panamao, Sulu.

PDEA identified the suspect as Reximar Muhammad, 30, of Patikul, Sulu.

READ: ‘Nanlaban’ in Cotabato City: 3 drug suspects dead in buy-bust operation