4 face charges after drug buy-bust arrest in Iligan City

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – Four persons were now facing charges after being arrested in Iligan City during a buy-bust operation conducted by combined anti-narcotics agents from various parts of Mindanao that also led to the seizure of some two kilograms of shabu.

Wilkins Villanueva, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) director for Northern Mindanao, said the suspects were arrested at a car park inside a mall in Barangay Villa Verde in Iligan City on Thursday.

Villanueva identified the arrested suspects as Sanawiya Ampaso Calumbang, alias Soraya Umpa, 40, a resident of Salvador, Lanao del Norte; Jamey Sarif, 31, married, and a resident of Purok 5, Barangay Mahayahay in Iligan City; Khadafi Aloyodan, 37, married, also of Salvador town; and Bryan Abdul Malik, 32, married, of Madaya, Marawi City.

Villanueva said also seized from suspects were a black Toyota Vios, six bundles of counterfeit money, six pieces of genuine P1,000 bills used by Pdea agents in the buy-bust operation, and two cellular phones.

Adzhar Albani, PDEA director for Southern Mindanao, said the operation was conducted by anti-drug agents from PDEA offices in regions 9, 10, 11 and elements of the Iligan City police after days of stakeout.

He placed the value of the seized drugs at P18 million.

Villanueva said they had conducted surveillance on Calumbang for two weeks and determined that her operation covered northern and southern Mindanao and Caraga.

Asked where the illegal drugs may have come from, Albani said: “We can’t ascertain yet if it’s locally (produced) or smuggled from other countries.”

Villanueva said the illegal drugs might also have come from Luzon.

“What we are a doing is focus on high-value targets,” Albani said, adding that Calumbang was considered among the big-time dealers, whom Pdea had arrested. With a report from Dennis Jay Santos/CDG

READ: PDEA seizes 60 kilos of marijuana in Pampanga buy-bust