AUTHORITIES have arrested four high-value targets (HVTs) and seized some P6.8 million worth of illegal drugs in an anti-drug operation in Lanao del Sur province, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) said Saturday, April 13, 2024.
Gil Cesario Castro, director of PDEA in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Barmm), identified the four arrested as the following: Nawap Mohammad, 34; Nursudin Bantak; Mamak Solaiman; and, Mustapha Solaiman.
Mohammad is a resident of Lumba-Bayabao, Lanao del Sur while the other three are residents of Marawi City, also in Lanao del Sur.
Castro said the four HVTs were arrested in a buy-bust operation at Purok 5 in Manila Group village, Wao, Lanao del Sur, on Friday, April 12.
Castro said seized from the four were a kilo of suspected shabu packed in an aluminum foil bag with Chinese characters worth P.68 million, buy-bust money, a mobile phone, three pieces of leatherette wallets containing assorted identification cards, P450 cash in different denominations, and a sports utility vehicle.
He said the arrested suspects are now under the custody of the PDEA-Barmm jail facility while awaiting inquest proceedings for violation of Republic Act No. 9165, as amended by Republic Act No. 10640, or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.
He said the arrest of the four suspects was a result of inter-agency efforts of the law enforcement units from PDEA-Barmm, military, police, and the municipal government of Wao.
Friday’s arrest and confiscation of P6.8 million worth of suspected shabu was the second biggest drug haul of PDEA-Barmm in a week’s time.
The first was on Monday, April 8, when an HVT suspect was arrested and some P34 million worth of illegal drugs seized in Matalin village, Malabang, Lanao del Sur. (SunStar Zamboanga)