Shabu dealer with BARMM contacts entrapped by PDEA 9 agents

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April 6, 2026 | 4:42pm

COTABATO CITY — Agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency 9 seized P6.8 million worth of shabu from a dealer operating in Region 9 on Sunday, April 5, just three weeks after the arrest of his three alleged accomplices in separate police operations in Cotabato City.

The suspect, Mahadil Asah Abdul, also known by his alias Mahang, was entrapped by agents of PDEA 9 on Sunday along a stretch of Calle Amor in Barangay Lunzuran, Zamboanga City, in an operation carried out with the help of policemen under Brig. Gen. Edwin Quilates, director of the Police Regional Office 9.

Radio reports on Monday, April 6, from this city and nearby provinces in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao quoted Bryan Babang, director of PDEA 9, saying that the suspect was immediately arrested after selling his illegal merchandise to their agents during a tradeoff on Calle Amor in Barangay Lunzuran.

Local officials and traditional Moro leaders in Cotabato City, the capital of BARMM, said Abdul’s local cohorts, Jonard Lopez Valdevieso, Steve Ginta Kali, and Kominie Ombol Omar, were entrapped by policemen one after another in different barangays in the city last month.

Abdul’s contact number was reportedly found on mobile phones seized by police anti-narcotics operatives during separate entrapment operations conducted by units of the Cotabato City Police Office and the Police Regional Office–Bangsamoro Autonomous Region.

PDEA 9 agents also confiscated a kilo of shabu from Abdul, valued at P6.8 million, which will be used as evidence in prosecuting him for violations of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.

Babang said the operation that led to Abdul’s arrest was carried out with the assistance of Zamboanga City Mayor Khymer Adan Olaso and local leaders in Barangay Lunzuran.

Valdevieso, Kali and Omar also allegedly sold marijuana in Cotabato City and nearby towns in Maguindanao del Norte, reportedly supplied by remnants of the now-defunct Dawlah Islamiya. All three are currently undergoing judicial proceedings for their criminal offenses.

Officials from the intelligence units of PRO-BAR and PRO 12 told reporters on Monday that Abdul, who is now detained at a PDEA 9 facility in Zamboanga City, along with Valdevieso, Kali, and Omar, cooperated in supplying shabu to contacts in Cotabato City, parts of Maguindanao del Norte and Lanao del Sur in the Bangsamoro region and in Pagadian, the capital of Zamboanga del Sur.