Anti-narcotics operatives arrested a high-value target, seizing P3.4 million worth of suspected shabu from him during a drug buy-bust operation in Bongao, Tawi-Tawi on Wednesday night.
Abraham Solon Kalim, head of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (PDEA-BARMM) Tawi-Tawi provincial office, identified the suspect as Mahadir Arabani Udja, 28, a resident of Barangay Silubog, Bongao.
A high-value target, Udja was immediately arrested after he handed over the alleged shabu to an undercover agent in Barangay Tubig Tanah during the entrapment operation at about 8 p.m.
Joint operatives from PDEA, Philippine Marines, and the Provincial Drug Enforcement Unit (PDEU) recovered 10 sachets of suspected methamphetamine hydrochloride weighing 500 grams with a value of P3.4 million.
Kalim lauded the operational support from members of the 4th Marine Rifle Battalion under Lt. Colonel Richard Malabanan, Tawi-Tawi police provincial director Colonel Byron Alatog, and Bongao municipal police chief Colonel Roy Zantua.
The operation came two days after PDEA-Tawi-Tawi also seized P20.4 million worth of suspected shabu during a drug buy-bust in the waters off Bongao.
The previous operation led to the arrest of an alleged big-time drug peddler, identified as Sheik Sahid Basa Abdulla, who was injured when the drug deal turned violent after he and his cohorts opened fire on approaching lawmen