John Unson – Philstar.com
May 1, 2025 | 5:44pm

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency arrested five shabu peddlers, including two drug den owners, in separate entrapment operations in two Central Mindanao cities within just two days.

Agents of the PDEA-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao clamped down three drug dealers, two of them operating a drug den, after selling to them P54,400 worth of shabu in a clandestine tradeoff on Wednesday, April 30, in Mother Barangay Bagua in west of Cotabato City.

Gil Cesario Castro, director of PDEA-BARMM, told reporters on Thursday, May 1, that the three suspects, one of them a woman, yielded peacefully when they learned that they had sold shabu to non-uniformed anti-narcotics agents and policemen within the premises of their drug den in Barangay Mother Bagua.

Castro said the operation that led to their arrest was assisted by Col. Jibin Bongcayao, Cotabato City police director, and confidential tipsters, who provided them information about the drug trafficking activities of the suspects.

Agents of the PDEA-12 had also entrapped two shabu dealers in Barangay Balindog in Kidapawan City in Region 12 last Wednesday, April 30.

Benjamin Recites III, director of PDEA-12, said the male and female suspects, both of legal age, were arrested by their agents and operatives of the Kidapawan City Police Office after selling to them P34,400 worth of shabu.

Recites said the two suspects are now locked in separate detention cells, awaiting prosecution for violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.

Source : https://www.philstar.com/nation/2025/05/01/2439750/5-busted-2-central-mindanao-ops