Woman linked to Dawlah Islamiya caught in Lanao del Sur drug ops

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January 25, 2026 | 5:48pm

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency seized P340,000 worth of shabu from a 42-year-old woman, reportedly linked to remaining members of the now-defunct Dawlah Islamiya, entrapped in Taraka, Lanao del Sur on Saturday, January 24.

Benjamin Recites III, regional director of the PDEA-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, told reporters on Sunday that they are now in custody of the suspect, arrested by their non-uniformed agents and policemen after selling to them 50 grams of shabu, costing P340,000, in Barangay Sigayan Proper in Taraka.

Recites said the entrapment operation that resulted in her arrest was assisted by local executives, officials of the municipal police stations in the neighboring Taraka and Molundo towns in Lanao del Sur and different units in the province of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region.

Recites said the operation was premised on reports by relatives of the suspect and local executives about her peddling of shabu in Taraka and in Molundo.

Provincial officials and intelligence agents from units of the Army’s 103rd Infantry Brigade covering the province separately confirmed to reporters on Sunday that the suspect also occasionally peddled marijuana supplied by few remaining members of the now dysfunctional Dawlah Islamiya terror group hiding in the hinterland tri-boundaries of Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Norte and Cotabato provinces.

Recites said they shall prosecute the suspect for violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 using the P340,000 worth of shabu confiscated from her as evidence.