COTABATO CITY — Agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) seized P34 million worth of shabu from a dealer based in this city and entrapped in Malabang town, Lanao del Sur on Monday.
PDEA-Bangsamoro Director Gil Cesario P. Castro said the suspect, Zacaria Jaji Nandang, is now in their custody and set to be charged with violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.
Mr. Nandang, a Maguindanaon, was arrested in a sting staged in Barangay Matalin, a predominantly Maranaw area in Malabang town, some two hours away via overland travel from here.
Mr. Nandang yielded peacefully when he sensed that he had sold five kilos of shabu worth P34 million to covert agents of the PDEA in coordination with the Malabang Municipal Police Station, the Lanao del Sur Provincial Police Office and the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region.
Mr. Nandang was long under surveillance by agents of PDEA-BARMM and intelligence units of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division and PRO-BAR for his large-scale shabu trafficking activities in Cotabato City and in nearby towns in the neighboring Maguindanao del Norte, Maguindanao del Sur and in Cotabato provinces. — John Felix M. Unson
