Agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-12 clamped down five drug den operators in a sting in Barangay Katubao in Kiamba, Sarangani on Sunday, August 3.

Local executives and traditional Christian and Muslim elders in Kiamba confirmed to reporters on Monday, August 4, that PDEA-12 agents had seized 10.3 grams of shabu, costing P70,000, from the five male suspects, two of them already jailed for a number of years for violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.

Benjamin Recites III, director of PDEA-12, said on Monday that their agents immediately arrested the five suspects after selling to them shabu during an entrapment operation in Purok 6 in Barangay in Barangay Katubao in Kiamba.

Recites said the operation was laid with the help of Muslim and Christian leaders in Kiamba and units of the Police Regional Office-12 under Brig. Gen. Romeo Juan Macapaz.

“The entrapment operation was successful because of their support,” Recites said.

Members of the multi-sector Kiamba Municipal Peace and Order Council said the five suspects collaborated in facilitating pot sessions for buyers of their illegal merchandise in their den in a secluded area in Barangay Katubao.

Recites said all five suspects are now in the custody of the PDEA-12, awaiting judicial litigation. (August 4, 2025, Kiamba, Sarangani Region 12)