ZAMBOANGA CITY — Anti-narcotics agents, backed by police and military troops arrested four notorious drug peddlers during a drug buy-bust operation in Wao town in Lanao del Sur and confiscated from their possession an estimated 1,000 grams of suspected shabu worth P6.8 million.

Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao — Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (BARMM-PDEA) Director Gil Cesario Castro said yesterday they conducted the buy-bust operation in Purok 5, Barangay Manila Group in Wao town on Friday.

Castro identified the four drug peddlers as Nawap Gundar Mohammad, alias Aisa, 34, male, and a resident of Barangay Bantayao, Lumba-Bayabao, Lanao del Sur; Nursudin Bilao Bantak, alias Odin; Mamak Barazar Solaiman, alias Mamak; and Mustapha Dipatuan Solaiman, alias Ex. The three were all residents of Marawi City.

Confiscated and recovered from the possession of the suspects was one piece of black aluminum foil bag with Chinese characters, containing a vacuum-sealed transparent plastic pouch containing shabu, weighing more or less 1,000 grams worth P6.8 million.

Also recovered from the suspects were the buy-bust money, one unit mobile phone, three pieces of leatherette wallets containing assorted identification cards, assorted paper bills amounting to P450 pesos, and one unit white Toyota Revo.

On Monday, 8 April, anti-narcotics agents seized five kilograms of shabu worth P34 million during a drug buy-bust in Lanao del Sur, the biggest shabu haul in the history of the five-year-old Muslim-majority region of BARMM.

Castro said PDEA agents arrested Zacaria Jaji Nandang during the buy-bust operation in Barangay Matalin, Malabang town in Lanao del Sur, and seized from his possession five kilograms of shabu worth P34 million.

Nandang, a resident of Bagua 2, Cotabato City, and the four suspects are now under the custody of the BARMM-PDEA Jail Facility while awaiting inquest proceedings for violation of Republic Act 9165 as amended by Republic Act No. 10640, or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.