LAWMEN have arrested three individuals and rescued a child in an anti-drug operation that led to the dismantling of a drug den in a remote town in Tawi-Tawi, an official said Friday, August 22, 2025.
Gil Cesario Castro, director of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (PDEA-Barmm), said the drug den was dismantled Wednesday, August 20, in Boan village, Mapun, Tawi-Tawi.
Mapun, which consists of 15 villages, is an island municipality in the Sulu Sea on the southwestern edge of the Philippines, near Malaysia.
Castro identified the arrested suspects by their aliases as Delat, 52, the drug den maintainer; Boy, 22; and Jing, 52.
The rescued minor was turned over to the Department of Social Welfare and Development for proper care and intervention.
Recovered from the dismantled drug den were about eight grams of suspected shabu, packed in 26 heat-sealed transparent sachets worth P54,400, buy-bust money, drug paraphernalia, identification cards, and two mobile phones.
Castro said charges for violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 have been filed against the suspects, who remain in detention.
The anti-drug operation was carried out by PDEA operatives with the support of the Mapun police. (SunStar Zamboanga)