.png){kind=logo}
2 hours ago
4
Upgrade to High-Speed Internet for only ₱1499/month!
Enjoy up to 100 Mbps fiber broadband, perfect for browsing, streaming, and gaming.
Visit Suniway.ph to learn
John Unson - Philstar.com
March 14, 2026 | 6:23pm
The four shabu peddlers arrested in an entrapment operation on Thursday, March 12, 2026, in Malidegao, Cotabato are now in the custody of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
Philstar.com / John Unson
COTABATO CITY, Philippines — A drug den operator tagged in heinous crimes was killed while four of his accomplices were arrested by anti-narcotics agents in an entrapment operation on Thursday in Barangay Nabalawag in Malidegao, Cotabato on Thursday, March 12.
Agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and policemen were about to arrest Masrullah Guialudin and his four cohorts after purchasing from them 20 grams of shabu, but he resisted and pulled out a pistol, provoking a gunfight that resulted in his death.
Guialudin's four companions are now in the custody of the PDEA-BARMM, to be prosecuted for violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.
Edgar Jubay, regional director of PDEA-BARMM, told reporters on Friday that they shall prosecute the four detained companions of the slain drug den owner for violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.
Local officials and traditional Moro datus who supported the entrapment operation had told reporters that Guialudin was known for his large-scale distribution of shabu to contacts in Malidegao and in the seven other towns in the Bangsamoro Special Geographic Area, or SGA, all under the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao but are inside Cotabato province in Region 12.
Local officials said Guialudin was suspected of having masterminded the murder, in one gun attack after another from late 2022 to early 2025, of nine innocent villagers in different towns in Cotabato suspected of helping the police monitor his shabu and marijuana trafficking activities in the province.
Jubay said their operation on Thursday in Barangay Nabalawag was assisted by the 40th Infantry Battalion of the Army’s 602nd Infantry Brigade and units in the SGA of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region under Brig. Gen. Jaysen De Guzman.
