3 drug ring members nabbed in Cotabato bust

MANILA, Philippines - Anti-narcotics agents nabbed three suspected members of a notorious drug group operating in Cotabato City during a buy bust operations, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency said on Friday.

The PDEA identified the suspects as s Prince Mohammad Mama, 27; and Dong Mamalinta, 34, both residents of Mother Barangay Balabaran Tamontaka Esteros, Cotabato City; and Samel Omar, 34, of Barangay Resa, Datu Blah.

The suspects are known members of the private armed group of Marcos Bua, leader of the Bua Drug Group based in Cotabato City, the PDEA said.

Belated reports said that last April 23,  operatives apprehended the suspects after they sold a sachet of shabu to an undercover PDEA agent in Mama’s and Mamalinta’s neighborhood in Mother Barangay Balabaran, Cotabato City, around 5:30 a.m.

Seized from the suspects were five plastic sachets containing shabu weighing approximately 50 grams placed inside a brown envelope, a caliber .38 revolver and four pieces of live ammunition for caliber .38, various drug paraphernalia, and the P500 bill used as marked money.

Earlier this year, three members of the Bua Drug Group were also caught selling shabu to a poseur-buyer in Rosary Heights 10, Cotabato City.