3 shabu peddlers entrapped in PDEA's Tawi-Tawi operation

COTABATO CITY — Three shabu peddlers fell in an entrapment operation by agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency and policemen in Barangay Sanga-Sanga in Bongao, Tawi-Tawi on Wednesday, September 4.

Gil Cesario Castro, director the PDEA-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, told reporters that the suspects, Albert Aliudjin Askalani, Nurainie Ilahan and Benhar Sali Salip Rajid, are now detained, awaiting prosecution.

Ilahan reportedly has contacts in the island towns in Tawi-Tawi, one of the six provinces of the Bangsamoro region.

Ilahan, Askalani and Rajid were immediately arrested by PDEA-BARMM agents and non-uniformed personnel of the Bongao Municipal Police Station and the Tawi-Tawi Provincial Police Office after turning over them P68,000 worth of shabu during tradeoff in a secluded area in Barangay Sanga-Sanga.

Castro said it was the relatives of the suspects and barangay officials in Bongao, capital town of Tawi-Tawi, who reported their illegal activities, enabling the PDEA-BARMM to mount the entrapment operation that led to their arrest.