PNP intensifies drive vs. illegal drugs in 3 Mindanao provinces

COTABATO CITY– Police and
anti-narcotics agents have neutralized over the weekend several personalities
engaged in illegal drug trade as the campaign against prohibited substance have
been intensified in three provinces in Mindanao.

In Tampakan, South Cotabato, police arrested a
suspected shabu pusher after a drug buy bust operation, according to Senior
Insp. Sherwin Maglana, Tampakan police chief.

He identified the suspect who was arrested in Purok
Bayanihan, Barangay Poblacion, Tampakan as Rey Demegillo Caspillo of Sitio San
Juan, Purok Rizal, Barrio 3, Banga, South Cotabato.

Maglana said Caspillo yielded three huge packs of
suspected methamphetamine hydrochloride, aluminum foil, improvised totter, Php15,000
cash and a unregistered motorbike.

Maglana said Castillo was one of the big time
supplier of prohibited drugs in Tampakan which he sourced from Koronadal City
and Maguindanao. Charges for violation of RA 9165 have been filed against him.

In Pikit, North Cotabato, three men suspected of using
the substance were arrested in an operation aimed at arresting three suppliers
in the village of Talitay Sunday.

Police Ins. Sindatu Karim, Pikit town police chief, lawmen
armed with arrest warrant swooped down on the village to Ondo Panangilan and
two others. He was not around but three
men caught in the act of sniffing shabu were hauled to jail.

Karim identified the arrested shabu users as Norhim
Zailon, 35, Buhari Usman, 27 and ali Esmael, 25, all residents of Barangay
Talitay.

They are now facing charges for violation of RA 9165
or the Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.

In Matanog, Maguindanao, joint police and
anti-narcotics agents seized seven kilos of dried marijuana (cannabis) leaves during
a rain in Barangay Bugasan Sur.

The
Php280,000 worth of marijuana leaves were seized in a house but its owner
managed to elude arrest.

Manhunt
has been on going against producers of dried marijuana leaves.