4 shabu traffickers 'linked' to terror groups nabbed

COTABATO CITY — Four shabu dealers who reportedly have links with local terror groups were arrested in separate operations in two Bangsamoro provinces in the past four days, the police reported on Saturday.

Brig. Gen. Allan Nobleza, director of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, told reporters early Saturday that policemen led by Lt. Col. Esmael Madin had entrapped a shabu dealer in Barangay Ladia in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao del Norte, now detained.

Local officials had urged investigators in the Sultan Kudarat Municipal Police Station to look into persistent information spreading around stating that the Maguindanaon suspect has links with the Dawlah Islamiya and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, both known for providing sanctuary to drug traffickers in exchange for money.

Nobleza said personnel of the Lanao del Sur Provincial Police Office and the Bacolod Kalawi Municipal Police Station is now in custody of a wanted Maranaw shabu dealer, who yielded peacefully to policemen who served him a warrant for his arrest from a local court, where he is facing a drug trafficking case.

The suspect, whose name was also withheld, meantime while investigators are still validating his being an alleged ex-member of the now non-existent Maute terror group, is now under joint custody of the Lanao del Sur PPO and the Bacolod Kalawi MPS.

He was arrested right in his hideout in Barangay Poblacion in Bacolod Kalawi, according to a report from the Lanao del Sur PPO released on Thursday.

Nobleza said two Iranuns were also busted in an entrapment operation by policemen in Barangay Marang in Barira, Maguindanao del Norte with the help of vigilant residents, among them Muslim preachers.

The duo, also said to have connections with violent religious extremists fomenting hatred for Christians, are now both detained at the Barira police station, awaiting prosecution for violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.