18, including 3 Ampatuans, fall in Cotabato City drug bust
COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Anti-narcotics agents arrested here Thursday morning 18 persons, three of them members of the Ampatuan clan, who were allegedly engaged in the illegal drugs trade during a raid on their hideout here, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) said.
Yogi Felimon Ruiz, director for PDEA in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), identified the three Ampatuans as Nazzer, 57; Abubakar, 50; and Bainot, 51, now detained at the PDEA’s detention facility here.
Ruiz said they have received information about the activities of the suspects in a house in Barangay (village) Rosary Heights 6. A surveillance was conducted for three days, including the purchase of shabu by PDEA agents.
The suspects and their 15 accomplices voluntarily yielded when they sensed that Ruiz and his men, backed by members of the local police and combatants of the 1st Marine Battalion Landing Team, surrounded their hideout Thursday morning.
He said the suspects were found positive for the use of methamphetamine hydrochloride.
“They are now undergoing interrogation,” Ruiz said of the suspects.
The three Ampatuans are related by blood to former Maguindanao Gov. Andal Ampatuan Sr. who is now facing a multiple murder charge for allegedly masterminding the massacre of 58 persons, mostly media workers, in 2009, according to the PDEA.
The raiding team recovered several sachets of shabu from the suspects.
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