COTABATO CITY (March 14, 2026) — Two men peddling shabu near school campuses in two Central Mindanao cities were arrested in separate entrapment operations by agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency 12 on Wednesday, March 11.

Charlene Magdurulang, regional director of the PDEA 12, told reporters on Friday that both shabu peddlers are now detained, to be prosecuted for violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.

PDEA 12 agents and policemen first arrested a 26-year-old shabu peddler during a tradeoff on Wednesday in Upper Mundog Subdivision in Barangay Poblacion in Kidapawan City in an entrapment operation laid with the help of local executives and different units in Cotabato province of the Police Regional Office 12.

Magdurulang said their agents had confiscated from him P192,100 worth of shabu during the tradeoff, premised on reports by his friends and relatives about his peddling of shabu near school campuses in Barangay Poblacion and nearby areas in Kidapawan City, the capital of Cotabato province.

Another male drug peddler, who clandestinely sold his illegal merchandise near schools and in markets, was arrested by PDEA 12 agents in an entrapment operation also on Wednesday in Purok Mapayapa in Barangay General Paulino Santos in Koronadal City in South Cotabato.

Magdurulang said the 26-year-old suspect was immediately frisked and cuffed by their agents after he sold to them a sachet of shabu during the operation, planned after barangay officials in General Paulino Santos reported his circulation of shabu in the area.

Local officials have confirmed that the suspect also secretly peddled shabu and marijuana in the premises of schools in Koronadal City, South Cotabato’s provincial capital.

Photo shows the shabu dealer entrapped on Wednesday in Kidapawan City by agents of the PDEA 12, now locked in a detention facility. []