COTABATO CITY – A teacher and four others were arrested and P3.4-million worth of meth were seized from them during a buy-bust operation in Marawi City on Friday.
Director Gil Cesario Castro, of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (PDEA-BARMM), said the suspects were entrapped during buy-bust operation in Barangay Rapasun.
The suspects did not resist arrest but were visibly stunned by the turn of events, Castro said.
READ: PDEA-BARMM nets P143M meth in 5 months, biggest haul in region’s history
PDEA-BARMM identified the arrested suspects as Fatima Pangcoga Oranggaga,42, also known as “Fats,” a teacher; Hania Alcantara Delinogun, 57, Esmael Antal Mamarinta, 27, Alfatah P. Oranggaga, also known as “Fatah,” 20, and a female minor.
Castro said the BARMM Police Special Action Force, 1402nd Regional Mobile Force Battalion, the Marawi City Police Station, and the Department of Security Service at Mindanao State University, participated in the operation.
During the operation, the authorities seized five huge plastic sachets containing about 500 grams of shabu, various identification cards, mobile phones and a red Toyota Revo vehicle used in the group’s illegal drug business.
Now detained at PDEA detention facility, the four suspects are facing charges for violation of Republic Act 9165 while the minor was turned-over to the custody of the Ministry of Social Services and Development (MSSD) in Marawi.