Zamboanga drug den shut down, 4 operators arrested

COTABATO CITY — Anti-narcotics agents clamped down four drug den operators in a sting in Barangay Talon-Talon in Zamboanga City on Saturday night.

The operation was laid with the help of local officials and policemen.

Maharani Gadaoni-Tosoc, regional director of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-9, on Monday said that they would prosecute the suspects, Henry Daniel Soriano, Rosebie Hilacio, Alvin Mark Haili and Totoh Jama, for violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.

All four of them were immediately detained after trading P41,300 worth of shabu with PDEA-9 agents and plainclothes personnel of the Zamboanga City Police Office in an entrapment operation on Saturday night in the vicinity of their drug den along Puerto Princesa Drive in Barangay Talon-Talon.

Local leaders confirmed that Soriano, Hilacio, Haili and Jama together operated the drug den, frequented by neighbors and villagers from other barangays around.

Besides shabu, PDEA-9 agents had also confiscated drug sniffing paraphernalia found inside their drug den. It is now locked and guarded by volunteer community watchmen.