COTABATO CITY โ Close relatives of four suspected street-level drug pushers helped police carry out a series of entrapment operations that led to the suspectsโ arrest over three days in Cotabato City, authorities said Tuesday.
The suspects โ Sa-Anudin Sirad Maramdacan, Abubakar Guilly Dipatuan, Fahad Dumamba Kusain, and Alfredo Maglasang Dela Torre Jr. โ were arrested in separate buy-bust operations conducted by the Cotabato City Police Office under the Police Regional OfficeโBangsamoro Autonomous Region (PRO-BAR).
Relatives of the drug suspects
Police said tips from the suspectsโ own relatives, who reported their alleged involvement in the sale of shabu in various barangays in the city, triggered the operations.
According to relatives and friends, the four suspects also occasionally sold marijuana allegedly sourced from a few remaining members of the now-defunct Dawlah Islamiya and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) hiding in remote areas of Maguindanao del Norte and Maguindanao del Sur.
PRO-BAR director Brigadier General Jaysen De Guzman said police operatives arrested the suspects one after another in operations led by Cotabato City police chief Colonel Jibin Bongcayao, with operatives from the City Police Drug Enforcement Unit, including Captain Anuar Mambatao, Major Albert Carillo, and Lieutenant Patricia Bueno.
The first arrest took place on Saturday, January 3. Police operatives caught Maramdacan after allegedly selling a sachet of shabu to poseur buyer in Purok Pindulunan, Barangay Poblacion.
On Sunday, the police arrested Dipatuan in Purok Baghdad, Barangay Tamontaka, following a similar transaction.
Non-uniformed police officers posing as civilians arrested Kusain and Dela Torre in separate buy-bust operations on Monday in Barangay Poblacion 6 and Barangay Rosary Heights 1, respectively.
De Guzman said relatives of the suspects, along with barangay officials, observed the operations from a distance, an arrangement coordinated with local authorities and members of the Cotabato City Peace and Order Council, chaired by Mayor Bruce Matabalao, now serving his second term.
Out of concern
Family members of the suspects said they decided to report their relatives to authorities out of concern for the safety of their communities.
Mayor Matabalao and De Guzman both thanked the informants for their cooperation. The four suspects are facing charges for violations of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.
Authorities detained the suspects in separate police facilities while inquest proceedings are underway.
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