Authorities flank a suspected drug dealer, 67-year-old Aliah Macapaar of Boona Bayabao, Lanao del Sur, following her arrest with two others in Gingoog City, over the weekend. (photo by Edwin Iyo)
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By EDWIN IYO and JOEY NACALABAN
Correspondents .

AUTHORITIES arrested three people, including a 67-year-old woman from Lanao del Sur, while they were trying to elude arrest following a buy-and-bust operation in Gingoog City over the weekend.

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Lt. Col. Elias Hampac identified the suspects as Aliah D. Macapaar, 67, of Poona Bayabao in Lanao del Sur, Mahdi Bucali Maito, 32, of Butuan City, and a 17-year-old male from Opol town in Misamis Oriental.

Authorities seized from the suspects a supply of suspected shabu estimated to be worth at least P40 thousand. These include 17 sachets of suspected shabu

Police said they were trying to ascertain if the suspects came from Cagayan de Oro or Iligan.

Hampac said the suspects tried to escape as soon as they saw police officers positioning on the road around a terminal in Gingoog City on Saturday.

As they tried to speed off in a red Toyota Innova vehicle, members of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) rammed a van into the getaway vehicle. As a result, the underaged suspect, who drove the red SUV, was injured.

Hampac said Macapaar and the teenager were new suspects in the PDEA’s drug list in Caraga. The third suspect, Maito, has been in the list for quite some time.

Hampac said Macapaar’s group was supposed to meet an undercover PDEA agent in Butuan City but then, they later agreed to meet in Gingoog.

Authorities said the suspects would be charged with drug possession and drug trade based on RA 9165.

Meanwhile, still unidentified gunmen shot and wounded a 27-year-old woman at Sitio Bulok-bulok, Barangay Bugo, this city, on Sunday night.

S/Sgt. Lemuel Tecson of the Puerto police identified the victim as Roxanne Salilig, 27, of Zone 6, Greymar, Bugo. The victim is reportedly out on bail.

Salilig has earlier sought police assistance because she was supposedly under threat.

Police said Salilig was with two companions when she was attacked.

“Sa dihang gikanaug na ang maong babaye pati iyang mga kauban kalit lang miabot ang mga suspetsado nakasakay sa motorsiklo ug mipusil kang Roxanne,” Tecson said.

The victim was rushed to the Northern Mindanao Medical Center for leg wounds.

Tecson said investigators suspected that the attack could either be drugelated or because of a “love triangle.”

Police said they have noted that Salilig is one those arrested during a buy-and-bust operation at the house of a lawyer in Balingasag town, Misamis Oriental in 2016.

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