36 drug traffickers nabbed in Maguindanao

COTABATO CITY, Philippines - Government operatives hauled to jail on Tuesday 36 drug traffickers and dependents following a raid on a drug den in Barangay Makir in nearby Datu Odin Sinsuat town in Maguindanao.

The joint military-police raid, led by Senior Supt. Felimon Ruiz of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, also resulted to the confiscation of some P300,000 worth of methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu, a 9 millimeter Ingram machine pistol and drug paraphernalia from the suspects.

Ruiz said the raid was carried with a search warrant from a local court and with the help of confidential informants, among them neighbors of the drug den operators.

Among the 36 suspects now in the custody of PDEA-ARMM were notorious drug traffickers Joe Abbas, Basco Dugas and Neng Dipatuan, tagged as behind the weekly distribution of large volumes of shabu to clandestine outlets in Cotabato City and surrounding towns.

Ruiz said he is thankful to the Maguindanao provincial police and the Army’s 68th Infantry Battalion, a component unit of the 6th Infantry Division, for helping the PDEA-ARMM carry out the raid.

Ruiz said they learned of the presence of the drug den in Barangay Makir from local residents that secretly fed them information on the activities and whereabouts of its operators.