Cops seize P2.7-M worth shabu in Zamboanga City sting

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Plainclothes policemen seized P2.7 million worth of shabu from a peddler entrapped in Barangay Tetuan in Zamboanga City on Tuesday night, March 18.

In separate reports on Thursday, March 20, the Police Regional Office-9 and the Zamboanga City Police Office confirmed the arrest of the 23-year-old suspect, who was immediately cuffed after selling to non-uniformed policemen and agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency 400 grams of shabu, costing P2.7 million, during a tradeoff along Don Alfaro Street in Barangay Tetuan.

Local officials were quoted in radio reports in Cotabato City and in nearby provinces as thanking the officials of units of PRO-9, led by Police Brig. Gen. Roel Rodolfo, for having promptly laid the operation that led to the arrest of Salman Kiram Alparis after receiving tips from confidential informants about his shabu peddling activities in Zamboanga City.

The entrapment operation was together carried out by PRO-9 units, the Naval Intelligence Security Group-Western Mindanao and the PDEA-9, according to local executives.

Police officials in Region 9 said the suspect, now locked in a police detention facility, shall be prosecuted for violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.