P10.2-M drugs seized in two Zamboanga City busts

COTABATO CITY — Agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in Zamboanga Peninsula (PDEA 9) and policemen seized P10.2 million worth of crystal meth (shabu) from three peddlers entrapped in separate anti-narcotics operations on Saturday.

The first to fall in the two joint PDEA 9-police entrapment operations were a 39-year-old man and his 22-year-old accomplice, residents of Barangays Tetuan and Calarian in Zamboanga City, respectively.

Bryan B. Babang, director of PDEA 9, said on Sunday that their agents, backed by operatives from different units of the Zamboanga City Police Office, had seized from the duo half a kilo of shabu, costing P3.4 million, during an entrapment operation along Mayor Jaldon Street in Barangay Canelar, laid with the help of tipsters and local executives.

Separately, PDEA 9 agents and policemen confiscated a kilo of shabu, worth P6.9 million, from a 27-year-old man, during a trade-off along Corcuera Street in Barangay Zone-4 in Zamboanga City.

Mr. Babang said they are grateful to police units in Zamboanga City that are under the Police Regional Office 9, led by its director, Brig. Gen. Police Brigadier General Edwin A. Quilates, for supporting both entrapment operations.

Local executives, among them Zamboanga City Mayor Khymer Adan T. Olaso, who is presiding chairperson of their multi-sector city peace and order council, were also instrumental in both entrapment operations that led to the arrest of the three shabu dealers and confiscation from them of P10.2 million worth of shabu.

Mr. Babang said they will prosecute the three detained suspects for violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 using the shabu confiscated from them as evidence. — John Felix M. Unson