10 drug peddlers nabbed in N. Cotabato raids

KIDAPAWAN CITY -Authorities nabbed 10 suspected drug peddlers in a surprise raid of at least three drug dens in nearby Matalam town in North Cotabato, around 130 p.m., Wednesday. The suspects were identified as Yusoph Sagidpa, 37 Rodin Kamsa, 21 Tidz Zalpin, 25 Datoto Salipada, 44 Bonifacio Bayug, 42 Hofer Pasagui, 29 Karex Malik Ontong, 49 Henry Pendatun, 31 a certain ‘Parcon and a 12-year old boy. Taken from their wallets during body searches were several sachets of shabu, cash, and drug paraphernalia. Operatives recovered from a suspected drug den owned by a certain ‘Idol’ at least 28 sachets of shabu with an estimated value at P135,000. They, however, failed to arrest ‘Idol’, who was able to escape from their dragnet operations.‘Idol’, according to police records, also owns several ‘ tiangge’ ofshabuin nearby Kabacan town. The raids and dragnet operations were led by Senior Superintendent Alex Tagum, provincial director of the Cotabato Police Provincial Office (CPPO), and Superintendent Jimmy Daza, regional director of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) of Central Mindanao. They started to swoop down the shabu tiangge and drug dens, around 1130 a.m., Wednesday. But even before they could get near Idol’s drug den, several warning shots were fired by still unidentified persons. Tagum hinted the warning shots were signal that policemen were coming to arrest the drug peddlers. The raid in Matalam town was the third biggest operations the CPPO has launched in North Cotabato since September. The raids last month resulted to arrest of at least 20 suspected drug peddlers, many of them were members of big-time drug syndicates operating in North Cotabato and other parts of Central Mindanao region, and recovery of shabu and other illegal drugs amounting to more than P1 million.