3 drug den operators in Cotabato City busted

COTABATO CITY — Agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency shutdown a clandestine drug den and clamped down its three operators in an operation in Barangay Rosary Heights 13 in Cotabato City on Thursday.

The suspects, Terry Pananggalon Cando, 35, Ariel Candol Pampliega, 44, and the 27-year-old Tomas Ramon Mario Lago Martinez Jr. were arrested by agents of the PDEA-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and policemen after selling to them P108,800 worth of shabu in the vicinity of their drug den in Sitio Malagapas in Barangay Rosary Heights 13.

Gil Cesario Castro, director of PDEA-BARMM, said the entrapment operation that led to the arrest of Pananggalon, Pampliega and Martinez and subsequent dismantling of their makeshift drug den was assisted by confidential informants aware of their drug peddling activities.

The three drug dealers are now locked in the detention facility of the PDEA-BARMM at the PC Hill in the center of Cotabato City.