Over P700K worth of shabu seized from dealers linked to terrorists in Central Mindanao

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January 10, 2026 | 5:17pm

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Policemen seized P706,180 worth of shabu from two peddlers, both linked to the few remaining leaders of the now-defunct Dawlah Islamiya, arrested in separate entrapment operations in two neighboring Central Mindanao cities on Thursday, January 8.

The suspects, Norodin Abalos Abat and Jordan Suib Alhabsi, entrapped one after another in the cities of Tacurong and General Santos, are now detained, to be prosecuted for violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.

Brig. Gen. Arnold Ardiente, director of the Police Regional Office 12, told reporters on Saturday that both suspects were entrapped with the help of local executives and confidential informants aware of their illegal activities in both cities and in nearby towns in Sarangani and Sultan Kudarat provinces.

Abat, a resident of Barangay Dansuli in Isulan town in Sultan Kudarat, was immediately arrested by combined anti-narcotics agents from the Tacurong City Police Station and the Sultan Kudarat Provincial Police Office after selling to them 53.45 grams of shabu, costing P363,460, and P1,290 worth of compressed dried marijuana in Purok 9 in Barangay Poblacion in Tacurong City.

Besides shabu and marijuana, policemen have also confiscated from Abat an unlicensed Colt .45 caliber pistol.

Ardiente said they are to separately prosecute him in court for peddling narcotics and illegal possession of a firearm.

Alhabsi was entrapped by plainclothes operatives from the General Santos Police Office and PRO 12 on Thursday night in Purok Bulaong Extension in Barangay Labangal, General Santos City.

Ardiente said it was friends and relatives of Alhabsi, a resident of Barangay Dadiangas East in General Santos City, who reported his large-scale peddling of shabu, enabling them to promptly plan the entrapment operation that resulted in his detention.

He was immediately frisked and cuffed by combined personnel of the Police Regional Drug Enforcement 12 and the General Santos City Police Office after they purchased from him P342,720 worth of shabu.

Senior officials of intelligence units of the Army’s 601st and 602nd Infantry Brigades and the 6th Infantry Division in Camp Siongco in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao del Norte separately confirmed to reporters on Saturday that Abat and Alhabsi are both in their lists of shabu and marijuana dealers sharing fractions of their earnings to the few remaining commanders of the now virtually disbanded Dawlah Islamiya hiding in remote areas in Central Mindanao.

Members of the Dawlah Islamiya who have not surrendered yet and availed of the 6th ID’s regional reconciliation program for violent religious extremists are known for providing sanctuary to traffickers of narcotics in exchange for money.

Up to 1,076 members of the Dawlah Islamiya have surrendered in batches to PRO 12, the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region and the 6th ID since 2021, all reintroduced to mainstream society with the help of different line agencies in Region 12 and the regional government of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.