COTABATO CITY (MindaNews / 5 March) – After eluding arrest twice, a suspected high level illegal drug trafficker fell to government hands following a raid on his house here dawn Thursday, 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 procures supplies of methamphetamine hydrochloride (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 in this city.
He did not resist arrest. His wife was also invited for questioning.
While Mohamad was a high level drug trafficker, the raiding team only seized two jumbo sachets of suspected shabu from his home with a market value of P250,000.
His wife admitted to PDEA agents her husband was engaged in the illegal drug trade. She turned down media interview.
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 among the suppliers 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 supply to Mindanao by transporting it by land.
Mohamad had been under surveillance since 2010, eluding arrest twice while in the capital.
Just the other day, PDEA-ARMM also arrested an unidentified high value target and seized about P1 million worth of shabu.