COTABATO CITY — Anti-narcotics agents seized P3.4 million worth of shabu from a 16-year-old suspected male courier in an entrapment operation in nearby Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao del Norte on Wednesday afternoon.
The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and the chief of the Sultan Kudarat Municipal Police Station, Lt. Col. Esmael Madin, separately confirmed on Thursday the arrest of the minor who fell in a sting in a secluded area in Barangay Ungap.
Brig. Gen. Allan Nobleza, director of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, said the tradeoff that led to the arrest of the adolescent was jointly carried out by PDEA-BARMM agents and combined personnel of Sultan Kudarat MPS and the Maguindanao del Norte Provincial Police Office.
The Sultan Kudarat MPS and the PDEA-BARMM both said the detention of the child shall be done with the help of the Bangsamoro social services ministry.
Nobleza said the 16-year-old suspect was immediately detained after selling about half a kilo of shabu to non-uniformed PDEA-BARMM and police agents.
Intelligence operatives of PRO-BAR and the Army’s 6th Infantry Division told reporters Wednesday that they are now validating tips from confidential informants that the seized shabu was from a big drug ring operating in central Mindanao using children as couriers of its illegal merchandise.
Photos: The 16-year-old suspect was entrapped Wednesday afternoon in Barangay Ungap in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao del Norte.
