Shabu dealer linked to Dawlah Islamiya busted in Marawi

COTABATO CITY – Another drug trafficker identified with the Dawlah Islamiya was arrested after selling P102,000 worth of shabu to non-uniformed policemen in a sting operation Thursday in Barangay Cabasaran in Marawi City.

Officials of the Marawi City and the Lanao del Sur provincial police forces initially identified the now-detained suspect only as Muktadeer, while efforts to locate his cohorts holding out in Barangay Cabasaran are still underway. 

Brig. Gen. Allan Nobleza, director of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, told reporters here on Saturday that the suspect was together entrapped by personnel of different units of PRO-BAR with the help of local officials in Marawi City and in nearby towns in Lanao del Sur.

In the meantime, Nobleza asked reporters not to reveal, the exact name of the suspect so as not to jeopardize efforts to identify his coddlers in the Dawlah Islamiya, based on tips by Muslim religious leaders in Lanao del Sur.

The Dawlah Islamiya and its ally, the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, blamed for all of the deadly bombings in Central Mindanao since 2014, are both known for providing sanctuary to illegal drug traffickers in exchange for money.

Nobleza said Muktadeer yielded peacefully when he sensed that he had sold 15 grams of shabu, costing P102,000, to policemen disguised as drug dependents during a tradeoff on Thursday in Barangay Cabasaran, a secluded area in Marawi City.