Anti-drug operatives arrested a contractual government employee who was tagged as a high-value target drug pusher in a buy-bust in a village in Koronadal City on Thursday.
Katryn Gaye Abad, spokesperson of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) 12 (Soccsksargen), said in a report on Friday that suspect Jamil Manara Desamito, 40, was nabbed around 11:35 a.m. after selling two large sachets of suspected shabu to an undercover agent.
She said the recovered illegal drugs, which were confirmed in laboratory analysis, weighed 12 grams and were valued at PHP81,600.
The operation was led by agents from PDEA South Cotabato Provincial Office and backed by South Cotabato and Koronadal City police’s drug enforcement operatives.
Abad said the entrapment on Aguinaldo Street in Barangay Sta. Cruz came after a month of intensive surveillance on the illegal activities of the suspect, who worked as a driver in a regional line agency based in Koronadal City.
Abad did not disclose the suspect’s other work-related details based on a request from the agency’s regional head.
“He was already arrested before for the same offense but continued with his illegal activities,” she told PNA in a phone interview on Friday.
Abad, who is also the chief of PDEA-12’s preventive education and community involvement section, said Desamito was previously arrested in a police operation in the area for peddling shabu.
She said Desamito was released after posting bail and still has a pending case for selling and possession of dangerous drugs, under Article II of Republic Act 9165 or the Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 upon his arrest on Thursday.
Desamito, who is detained at the PDEA-12 custodial facility, will be charged with drug charges.
Source: Philippines News Agency