POLICE seized more than a kilogram of suspected shabu in the houses of two former mayors in Lanao del Sur during a separate raids in Cagayan de Oro and Marawi City on Thursday.
Chief Supt. Reuben Theodore Sindac, director of the Police Regional Office-ARMM, said the shabu was found in the house of former Marantao, Lanao del Sur Mayor Mohammad Ali Abinal alias Mericano in Bobonga village in Marawi City around 3:30 p.m.
“The troops found one big transparent plastic bag containing suspected shabu,” Sindac said.
And in Cagayan de Oro City security forces seized 10 packs of shabu in the house of former Marawi City mayor Fahad Salic.
Meanwhile, the military arrested in Cotabato City an engineer working at the city engineering office after he was suspected to be a recruiter of the ISIS-allied Ansar Al-Khilafa Philippines, the Maute group and the Abu Sayyaf Group.
The arrest of Nasser Dilangalen, 57, at 2:30 p.m. Thursday came a day after police in nearby Parang town in Maguindanao rescued five recruits of Maute terror group while preparing to travel to Marawi City.
Dilangalen, construction and engineering maintenance general foreman, was arrested by operatives of the Army-led Task Force Kutawato and Cotabato City police office. He did not resist.
A police officer said Dilangalen was an alleged member of the Maute Group as a recruiter.
He said Dilangalen belonged to a big Moro clan in Maguindanao and was a key recruiter of the Maute-Abu Sayyaf Group and AKP.
The Abu Sayyaf and Maute groups now belong to Dawlah Islamiyah Pilippines, an ally of ISIS founded by the brothers Omarkhayem and Abdulla Maute of Lanao del Sur.
These groups, backed by foreign terrorists, have orchestrated the attack in Marawi City.
Dilangalen was related to one of the seven young AKP recruits killed by the Marines in a November 2015 encounter in Barangay Butril, Palimbang, Sultan Kudarat.
Army intelligence agents said Dilangalen had recruited high school and college students to join the ranks of jihadists.
On Wednesday, police in Parang, Maguindanao, rescued five teenagers who admitted they were recruited to augment the Maute group forces in Marawi City.
According to Chief Inspector Erwin Tabora, the relatives of the teenagers sought police assistance after they confirmed that their kin had been recruited to support the ISIS-linked group in Marawi City.
They were promised P100,000 once they left on June 15 for Marawi and P25,000 monthly as jihadists, Tabora told reporters. With PNA