Cops raid Kidapawan illegal drug dens, arrest 9, seize shabu, grenades

KIDAPAWAN CITY - Illegal drug dens exist in this city after all.Authorities seized two hand grenades, some 30 sachets of suspected shabu, and several drug paraphernalia from at suspected drug couriers they arrested during the simultaneous buy-bust raids and search operations here on Friday. Senior Superintendent Alexander Tagum, provincial director of Cotabato Police Provincial Office (CPPO), identified the suspects as Abie Sultan alias Bulaw Randy Lagum Villagonzalo Rodel Pacate Malasan Nurhidin Omar Dumacon a certain Jocelyn and four others. Tagum said the suspects belong to ‘top drug couriers’ whose supplies of shabu come from Cotabato City, Maguindanao, and other parts of Central Mindanao. Their operations cover Kidapawan City, other parts of North Cotabato, Davao del Sur, and Davao City. Tagum said they started to swoop down at least 10 suspected drug dens in Poblacion, around 3 a.m., Friday, with a hundred operatives from the CPPO, Intelligence Division, Criminal Investigation and Detection Team, and the Public Safety Division of the Kidapawan City government. The search warrants were issued by Judge Arvin Sadiri Balagot of the Regional Trial Court branch 23 here. Authorities seized two fragmentation grenades, all unlicensed, and several sachets of shabu which they have yet to determine their street value. Tagum said the simultaneous operations were part of their continuing campaign against illegal drugs in North Cotabato. It was Tagum’s first since he assumed post last week as the provincial director. We will not stop until we weed out the drug couriers that thrive or grow like ‘mushrooms’ in our area of responsibility,” he stressed. Next in his target are towns, which, according to intelligence reports, have suspected ‘shabu’ tiangge or ‘dens’ being protected by ‘big fish’, to include politicians. Mayor Joseph Evangelista immediately released some P50 thousand as cash rewards to ‘assets’, ‘informants’, and ‘operatives’ that made the anti-drug operations in his city successful. We will also give them commendations. We laud and support such efforts because these strengthen our continuing campaign against illegal drugs,” said the mayor. Suspects were immediately placed inside the lock up cell of the Kidapawan City PNP as charges of violation of Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 and Republic Act 10591 or the Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition Act of 2013 were being readied against them.