P4.4M worth of shabu seized 

COTABATO CITY — Agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-9 (PDEA-9) seized P4.4 million worth of shabu from three peddlers entrapped in a residential area in Ipil town in Zamboanga Sibugay on Wednesday night.

Maharani Gadaoni-Tosoc, director of PDEA-9, told reporters on Thursday that the suspects are now detained, to be charged with violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.

Two of the suspects, one armed with a nine-millimeter pistol and the other carrying a vintage .30 caliber Carbine rifle, first resisted and opened fire at the PDEA-9 agents and policemen to whom they have sold P4.4 million worth illegal merchandise and attempted to run after the gunfight ensued.

Gadaoni-Tosoc said the entrapment operation was premised on reports by municipal officials and barangay leaders in Ipil about their large-scale peddling of shabu in the adjoining Zamboanga Sibugay, Zamboanga del Norte and Zamboanga del Sur provinces and in barangays in Zamboanga City. — John Felix M. Unson