P408,000 worth of shabu seized from courier nabbed in Marawi

COTABATO CITY — Policemen in Marawi City on Tuesday morning foiled an attempt by a courier, reportedly connected with the Dawlah Islamiya, to deliver P408,000 worth of shabu to a buyer in Molundo town in Lanao del Sur.

Brig. Gen. Prexy Tanggawohn, director of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, told reporters on Thursday that the motorcycle-riding suspect was arrested by policemen guarding a security roadblock in Barangay Patani in Marawi City.

The suspect, supposedly on his way to Molundo, first turned around and tried to escape when he saw a police team inspecting vehicles passing through a stretch of a barangay road in Patani.

He was eventually cornered and arrested after a brief chase by combined police operatives and volunteer community watchmen.

Tanggawohn said policemen found P408,000 worth of shabu in his waist bag, inspected in the presence of barangay officials and traditional Maranao community leaders.

Local executives had confirmed that the suspect, now locked in a detention facility of the Marawi City Police Office, and his cohorts shared earnings from peddling shabu to a small group Dawlah Islamiya members in Lanao del Sur.