PDEA nabs 4 in Cotabato City anti-drug operations

COTABATO CITY — Authorities expect more arrests after the fall of four major suppliers in separate entrapment operations in the city last week.

"We are optimistic the detained suspects will help us locate their accomplices," Juvenal Azurin, director of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, said Sunday.

Azurin was referring to Alma Akmad,  Basir Tantong and wife, Vilma, who were arrested Friday, and Mhads Luminog Mamintal, who was arrested for selling P10 million worth of shabu to an undercover PDEA agent.

PDEA-ARMM agents who arrested Akmad and the Tantong couple recovered P1.7 million worth of shabu from them.

Superintendent Aldrin Gonzalez, spokesman of the Police Regional Office-12, said Sunday the recent arrests of drug traffickers in central Mindanao were initiated with the help of relatives who led agents to where the suspects were.

"This is something good. There is considerable cooperation now from among relatives of these drug dealers," Gonzalez said.

"By the looks of it, more drug dealers will soon be arrested with the voluntary cooperation of different sectors providing information on their activities," Gonzalez said.