Biggest drug haul in BARMM: Narcs seize P34M in shabu in Lanao del Sur

COTABATO, Philippines – Narcotics agents seized some P34 million worth of shabu (methamphetamine hydrochloride) during a drug buy-bust in Lanao del Sur on Monday afternoon, April 8.

It was the biggest shabu haul so far in a province under the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) in the history of the five-year-old Muslim-majority region or even before its creation, according to Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) Regional Director Gil Cesario Castro.

Castro said five kilograms of shabu in pouches used in packing Chinese tea bags were confiscated from a suspect identified as Zacaria Jaji Nandang during the operation in Barangay Matalin, Malabang town in Lanao del Sur, past noon on Monday.

Nandang, a resident of Bagua 2, Cotabato City, was arrested and taken back to Cotabato where investigators are pressing him for information.

Authorities said they suspected that Nandang did not act alone and there was a group behind him.

Castro said investigators were also looking into the possibility that the foiled illegal drug trade was meant to raise funds ahead of the 2025 elections.

“We are still validating it,” he Castro, adding that the PDEA in the BARMM had subjected Nandang to weeks of surveillance over intelligence information that indicated a multimillion-peso illicit drug trade taking place in the Bangsamoro region.

He said authorities pounced on Nandang while the suspect was selling a kilogram of shabu to a PDEA agent who posed as a buyer.

When narcotics agents searched the suspect’s car, they found four more kilograms of shabu.

Castro said the way the shabu was packed and the use of Chinese tea bag pouches were similar to those seized by authorities during previous operations in the BARMM, and they suspected that these were smuggled into the country.

“After this, we will go after the supply chain of illegal drugs. We have to dig deeper to identify those behind this narco trade. We have a lead. We continue to profile him (Nandang) and conduct a backtracking investigation so we will know who are the players behind it,” he said.

Castro and Police-BARMM Director Brigadier General Prexy Tanggawohn said Nandang’s arrest and the shabu haul was a result of a collaboration among the PDEA, the military, National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA), and the police. – Rappler.com