PDEA seizes P13.6-M worth of shabu in 2 Mindanao operations

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June 1, 2026 | 6:04pm

COTABATO CITY  — Anti-narcotics agents seized two kilograms of shabu worth P13.6 million from four alleged dealers in separate entrapment operations in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and Administrative Region 12 within just two days.

Local executives told reporters on Monday, June 1, that agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-BARMM and police officers confiscated a kilo of shabu worth P6.8 million from a tricycle driver identified as Jaylani Talib Amin during a buy-bust operation on Sunday, May 31, in Bongao, the capital town of Tawi-Tawi.

Municipal officials in Bongao and members of the multi-sector Tawi-Tawi Provincial Peace and Order Council, led by Gov. Ysmael Sali, said on Monday that Amin was immediately arrested by PDEA-BARMM agents, led by Abraham Solon Kalim, and police officers after allegedly selling shabu along a thoroughfare in Barangay Poblacion, Bongao, on Sunday afternoon.

Edgar Jubay, regional director of PDEA-BARMM, said the operation that led to the arrest of the suspect and the confiscation of P6.8 million worth of shabu was conducted with the help of municipal and provincial officials in Tawi-Tawi, as well as units of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in the province.

"We are thankful to the municipal officials in Bongao and the governor in Tawi-Tawi for helping us put the suspect behind bars via an operation that they supported extensively," Jubay told reporters in Cotabato City on Monday. 

Last Saturday, PDEA 9 agents and operatives from units of the Police Regional Office 9 arrested three alleged shabu dealers after a buy-bust operation involving P6.8 million worth of shabu in Barangay Canelar, Zamboanga City, Administrative Region 9.

Bryan Babang, director of PDEA 9, told reporters on Monday that the suspects, whose names were withheld while efforts to locate their alleged accomplices in Zamboanga City are ongoing, are now in their custody and awaiting prosecution in court.

Babang said the successful operation was conducted with the help of barangay and city officials, as well as confidential informants aware of the alleged large-scale shabu distrubution involving the three male suspects, who are now detained.