PDEA nabs ‘high-level drug trafficker’ in Cotabato City raid

COTABATO CITY – After eluding arrest twice, a suspected high-level illegal drug trafficker fell into government hands in a raid on his house here early Thursday morning, an anti-narcotics agent said.

 

Agent Marvin Mendoza of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (PDEA-ARMM), identified the suspect as Akmad Wahab Mohamad, who allegedly gets methamphetamine hydrochloride, or shabu, from Chinese illegal drug suppliers in Manila.

 

“On two occasions, he outsmarted us, but not this time,” Mendoza said of the 6 a.m. raid on Mohamad’s house in Sitio Biniruan, Barangay Poblacion 9, Cotabato City. He did not resist arrest. 

 

His wife was also invited for questioning.

 

While Mohamad was identified as a high-level drug trafficker, the raiding team only seized two large sachets of suspected shabu from his home with a market value of P250,000.

 

His wife admitted to PDEA agents that her husband was engaged in the illegal drug trade. She, however, refused to be interviewed by media.

 

Mendoza said Mohamad has long been included in the target list of PDEA after his name emerged in several PDEA drug buy busts and raids in Manila as the supplier in Mindanao.

 

“He supplies huge volume of shabu in Cotabato City and nearby areas from Chinese drug traffickers in Manila,” Mendoza said, adding that Mohammad brings supplies to Mindanao by land.

 

Mohamad had been under surveillance since 2010, eluding arrest twice while in the capital.

 

Just the other day, PDEA-ARMM arrested another high-value target and seized about P1 million worth of shabu. Druge enforcement agents did not name the suspect. — Ferdinandh Cabrera/JDS, GMA News