COTABATO CITY — Officials on Monday incinerated P87 million worth of narcotics seized in separate operations in the Bangsamoro region in the past three years.
The confiscated crystal meth (shabu), marijuana and cocaine were burned at the powerplant of cornstarch manufacturer Lamsan Incorporated in Barangay Simuay in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao del Norte.
The seized drugs were first used as evidence in drawn out judicial proceedings in different courts in central Mindanao.
The symbolic destruction of the seized narcotics was led by Gil Cesario P. Castro, director of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), Maguindanao del Norte Vice Governor Marshall I. Sinsuat, BARMM’s police director, Brig. Gen. Jaysen C. De Guzman, the state prosecutor for region 12, Mariam April V. Mastura and Bangsamoro Chief Minister Abdulrauf A. Macacua.
Mr. Castro, Mr. Macacua and Mr. De Guzman separately told reporters at the sideline of the event that they are grateful to the local communities for supporting the government’s anti-narcotics campaign.
Mr. Castro said mayors, provincial governors and field commanders of the Moro National Liberation Front and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front were instrumental in the seizure of big volumes of shabu and marijuana from traffickers entrapped in separate operations since the creation of BARMM in 2019. — John Felix M. Unson
