TROOPS operating against the terrorist Maute Group seized 11 kilograms of suspected shabu and high-powered weapons in strife-torn Marawi City on Sunday night.
The haul is estimated to have a street value of P110 million to P250 million, and it is the biggest shabu catch so far in Marawi since May 23, authorities said.
Brig. Gen. Rolando Bautista, commander of the the 1st Infantry Division, said the suspected shabu and four high-powered weapons were found by soldiers from the 49th Infantry Battalion led by 1Lt. Emerson Tapang during clearing operations.
He said soldiers spotted men in black emerging from a cluster of houses that prompted troops to maneuver. The terrorists put up a fight but fled while carrying items taken from one of the houses.
The military however did not say exactly where in Marawi they stumbled on the suspected shabu.
But even before Sunday, authorities said, many sachets of suspected shabu were already found by troops in the fighting positions of the Maute and Abu Sayyaf since the first and second week of the Marawi siege.
Troops in the frontlines stated that they were facing drug-crazed individuals in the ongoing battles, said Bautista.
He said the terrorists have continued to use mosques as battle positions.
“We condemn the acts of the Maute/ASG in using mosques as battle positions as we deplore their use of illegal drugs that is equally evil as both are un-Islamic,” he said. (pna)
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