Cops seize P1-M worth shabu in Maguindanao del Norte bust

COTABATO CITY — Plainclothes policemen seized P1 million worth of shabu from a dealer during an entrapment operation in Barangay Makir, Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao del Norte, on Thursday afternoon, March 13.

The 45-year-old suspect, Montasser Abas Amat, is now in police detention and will be prosecuted for violating the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.

Brig. Gen. Romeo Juan Macapaz, director of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, told reporters on Friday, March 14, that Amat was immediately arrested after selling 150 grams of shabu, worth P1 million, to personnel from the Sultan Kudarat Municipal Police Station, led by Lt. Col. Esmael Madin, in Barangay Makir, Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao del Norte.

Madin and his subordinate-policemen were initially set to conduct their operation in Barangay Kabuntalan in Sultan Kudarat but changed the location to Barangay Makir at Amat's request for the shabu tradeoff.

In separate reports to Macapaz and the Maguindanao del Norte Provincial Police Office, Madin said the operation, which led to Amat's arrest and the seizure of P1 million worth of shabu, was carried out with the support of their counterparts at the Datu Odin Sinsuat Municipal Police Station

The police team that arrested Amat also impounded his Honda Click motorcycle, which he reportedly used to distribute shabu to contacts in Cotabato City, as well as in Sultan Kudarat and Datu Odin Sinsuat towns in Maguindanao del Norte.