COTABATO CITY – After a month-long surveillance operation, police officers in North Cotabato arrested on Tuesday a drug suspect in a buy-bust and seized some PHP340,000 worth of suspected shabu.
Maj. Ivan Samoraga, Pigcawayan town police chief, said Bayzer Abpi, 33, of Barangay Poblacion 7, Cotabato City, was arrested after he handed over the illegal drugs to an undercover agent at 3 p.m. along the national highway in Barangay Tubon.
“Abpi did not resist arrest but was visibly stunned by the turn of events,” Samoraga said in a radio interview on Wednesday.
He said Abpi had been placed under surveillance since striking a drug deal with an undercover agent last month.
“He (Abpi) agreed to sell the prohibited shabu item amounting to PHP100,000 to our poseur-buyer,” Samoraga said.
The meeting place for the exchange of the illegal drugs and payment was at the roadside along the Cotabato-Davao highway in Tubon.
Seized from Abpi were 50 grams of suspected shabu, one original PHP1,000 bill on top and 99 pieces of photocopied PHP1,000 bills in boodle money, and drug paraphernalia.
The suspect is detained at the Pigcawayan police station.
He is facing charges for violation of Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002. (PNA)
