2 henchmen of drug dealer killed in raid

MAGUINDANAO — Two henchmen of a bandit wanted for large-scale trafficking of shabu died in an encounter with anti-narcotics agents in Datu Paglas town Thursday.

Fatalities Sindatuk and Nurhamin, both surnamed Pendaliday, were known errands of their relative, Abdullah Pendaliday, alias “Commander Grasscutter.”

Also wanted for other heinous offenses, including cattle theft, propagation of Marijuana plants and robbery. Pendaliday, who has heavily armed followers, is a key distributor of shabu, or methamphetamine hydrochloride, in Datu Paglas and nearby towns.

Juvenal Azurin, director of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, said the duo died from multiple gunshot wounds.

Pendaliday, the target of the joint operation of the PDEA-BARMM and members of the 40th Infantry Battalion and the Maguindanao provincial police, managed to escape as the gunfight ensued.

The PDEA-led operation to arrest Pendaliday was launched early Thursday after residents of Barangay Malala, Datu Paglas reported his presence in the area, meeting contacts. The elusive Pendaliday thrice eluded entrapments laid in the past four years by units of the Army’s 601st Brigade under the Army’s 6th Infantry Division and personnel of the Maguindanao provincial police.

Azurin said they recovered an assault rifle from each of the slain followers of Pendaliday.

PDEA-BARMM agents also found shabu in small sachets in their trouser pockets.