MANILA, Philippines - A barangay councilor, treasurer and his three companions were apprehended by operatives of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency during a recent sting operation in Cagayan de Oro City, the PDEA disclosed on Tuesday.
PDEA director general Arturo Cacdac Jr. identified the suspects as Jalil Pandapatan, 41, an incumbent barangay councilor; Quirino Binasing, 32, barangay treasurer; Saidamen Boisan, 36, farmer; Nani Boisan, 36, farmer; and Norhata Boisan, 36; all of Pantar, Kalilangan, Lanao del Norte.
Cacdac said that last June 16, around 9 a.m. PDEA-Regional Office 10 conducted a buy-bust operation at Rosario Place, Corrales Street, Cagayan de Oro City which resulted in the arrest of five men.
Confiscated during the buy-bust were four pieces of large heat-sealed transparent plastic sachets and six pieces of rectangular heat-sealed transparent plastic sachets of white crystalline substance suspected to be shabu weighing 25 grams, worth P200,000, and the P1,5000 marked money.
In a report, the PDEA said that the illegal drug trade is the source of livelihood of the suspects whose illegal activities extend from part of Lanao del Norte up to the eastern part of Misamis Oriental and Cagayan de Oro City.
The seized pieces of drug evidence were brought to Region 10 crime laboratory for quantitative examination.
The suspects, who are now detained at the PDEA RO10, will face drug charges.