Soldier nabbed for selling shabu inside GenSan bar

GENERAL SANTOS CITY—Police operatives arrested an active member of the Philippine Army for allegedly selling shabu inside a bar here early Wednesday.

Capt. Abdulsalam Mamalinta Jr., chief of the Pendatun police station, said Private First Class (Pfc) Abdillah Diao Ali, 22, was nabbed in a buy-bust around 12:35 a.m. at the YSP bar on Salazar Street in Barangay Dadiangas South.

Mamalinta said Ali, of Purok Maunlad in Barangay Apopong, was a member of the 2nd Indigenous Peoples smart company under the Army’s 10th Infantry Division.

Mamalinta said an undercover policeman managed to buy a sachet of suspected shabu worth P500 from the suspect.

He said they recovered from Ali’s possession another plastic sachet containing suspected shabu.

Mamalinta said they earlier received reports about the illegal drug trade inside the bar involving a certain alias “Dilang.”

“But during the operation, it was actually Ali who was involved. We actually had prior information about his illegal activities,” he said in an interview.

Ali vehemently denied the accusation and claimed that a woman he was with at the bar planted the shabu on him.

1Lt. Rezel Faith Sela, spokesperson of the Army’s 1002nd Brigade and the suspect’s battalion commander, said she was surprised with Ali’s arrest and supposed involvement in the drug trade.

Sela said the soldier left their quarters last night without asking permission.

“We already investigating the incident,” she said in a phone interview, adding that Ali will be subjected to

administrative proceedings and could face dismissal from service if proven guilty.

Ali, who was detained at the Pendatun police station lockup, will be charged with violation of Sections 5 and 11 or selling and possession of dangerous drugs, under Article II of Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002. (PNA)