P6.9-M worth shabu seized in Marawi drug op

COTABATO CITY — Law enforcement agents confiscated P6.9 million worth of shabu from two alleged dealers who fell in a sting in Marawi City Tuesday, laid with the help of Maranao local officials.

Christian Frivaldo, director of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, told reporters on Thursday that suspects Rahib Solaiman Cayugan and Norain Anto Gunda are now detained. They are awaiting prosecution for violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.

Frivaldo said that the two suspects were immediately arrested after selling more than a kilo of shabu, costing P6.9 million, to non-uniformed PDEA-BARMM agents in an entrapment operation on Tuesday afternoon in Barangay Gadungan in Marawi City.

 The PDEA-BARMM official said that the operation that resulted in the duo’s arrest was supported by Mayor Majul Gandamra, who is chairman of the multi-sector, inter-agency Marawi City peace and order council and different units of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region.

Two companions of Cayugan and Gunda, Aripoden Kiram Ander and Rania Musor Maca-angcos, escaped when they sensed that they were dealing with PDEA-BARMM agents and policemen disguised as drug dependents. 

Apart from the P6.9 million worth shabu, PDEA-BARMM agents and personnel of the Marawi City Police Station also impounded the vehicles of the suspects, a Toyota Fortuner and a Toyota Hilux pick-up truck that they reportedly used in transporting shabu to local contacts.