P20.4-M ‘shabu’ netted off Tawi-Tawi waters

COTABATO CITY — Anti-narcotics agents, backed by Philippine Marines and police, seized over P20.4 million worth of suspected shabu during a buy-bust operation in the seas off Tawi-Tawi on Monday, an official said.

Abraham “Datu” Kalim, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (PDEA-BARMM) Tawi-Tawi provincial officer, said that an alleged big-time drug peddler was arrested in another police operation following a high-speed water chase.

He identified the leader of the five-man group as alias “Bradel.” The suspect’s group, who was aboard a speed boat, sold the suspected shabu to undercover agents on board a separate speed boat just a few kilometers from the shores of Bongao, the capital of Tawi-Tawi.

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READ: Drug suspect nabbed in Tawi-Tawi; P6.8-M shabu seized

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“Bradel noticed government forces on board sea crafts were approaching toward their location; they sped away while firing their guns, triggering a high-speed water chase,” Kalim told Brigada News FM.

He said government forces failed to catch up with the suspects due to their superior speedboat.

But the suspects left about three kilos of alleged shabu in the speed boat of PDEA undercover agents, Kalim said.

Another police team responded to a reported sighting of a wounded person in Pagatpat Island, one of the islands near Bongao.  

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Kalim identified the arrested person as Sheik Sahid Basa Abdulla, who, he added, was Bradel and the same guy who handed over the illegal stuff to the undercover agents.

Bradel’s companions remained at large.

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Kalim lauded the support provided by the Marines and PNP through coordination and effective communication.

“This is a joint operation and it is very effective,” Kalim added.

The PDEA officer said the Bongao seas have been serving as a transshipment point of prohibited drugs and contraband toward mainland Mindanao from neighboring countries.  

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He said the shabu packs have Chinese characters, indicating they could have been manufactured in a Chinese territory./coa