36 rounded up in anti-drugs raid in Maguindanao

COTABATO CITY, Philippines—The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) said it has filed drugs and weapons charges against 36 persons rounded up in Maguindanao this week.

PDEA described the raid conducted last Tuesday as the most successful anti-drugs drive in the province because of the sheer number of suspects arrested.

Senior Supt. Felimon Ruiz, director of the PDEA office in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, said the complaints were filed at the Maguindanao prosecutor’s office against the suspects, led by an alleged drug pusher identified as Jo Abas, on Wednesday.

Abas and the other drug suspects were arrested in Barangay Makir in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao on Tuesday.

Some P300,000 worth of shabu (methamphetamine hydrochloride) was seized during the raid  along with an Ingram submachine gun.

The suspects are now detained at the PDEA holding facility here pending their transfer to a regular jail facility, Ruiz said.