Worker falls in South Cotabato drug buy-bust

KORONADAL CITY–A laborer, considered a high-value target, was arrested in Tupi, South Cotabato following a week-long surveillance and drug buy-bust Wednesday.

Director Valente Cariño, the chief of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) in Central Mindanao, on Thursday said Allan Aminola, 26, was a member of a drug ring operating in South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat and parts of Maguindanao.

Aminola was arrested after he handed over shabu worth P1,000 to a PDEA agent, who acted as a buyer, in Purok 10 in Barangay Poblacion in Tupi, Cariño said.

Seized from him were several sachets of shabu worth about P100,000, mobile phones and shabu paraphernalia.

His arrest came a day after a policeman assigned with the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), who was included in President Duterte’s drug list, surrendered to the Sultan Kudarat police.

On Wednesday, Chief Supt. Marcelo Morales, Central Mindanao police director, presented to reporters Police Officer 1 Jaiton Camsa, who surrendered to police in Bagumbayan, Sultan Kudarat.

Camsa is a member of the ARMM police but went on Absence Without Official Leave (AWOL) in 2016 after Duterte named him as among the “narco-cops.”

Supt. Aldrin Gonzales, PRO-12 spokesperson, said Camsa headed the Top Gun drug group operating in Sultan Kudarat. His group also operated a drug laboratory./lb