COTABATO CITY (September 24, 2025) — Plainclothes policemen seized P1.03 million worth of shabu from a peddler entrapped in Barangay Dadiangas West in General Santos City on Monday, September 22.
City officials, among them members of the multi-sector General Santos City Peace and Order Council, told reporters on Wednesday, September 24, that the now detained suspect, Teodoro Murillo Lerias, is a large-scale peddler of shabu who also has contacts in different towns in nearby Sarangani and South Cotabato provinces.
Officials of the General Santos City Police Office and the Police Regional Office-12 had told reporters the entrapment operation that led to the arrest of the suspect and confiscation from him of 151 grams of shabu, costing P1.03 million, was laid with the help of city officials and barangay leaders aware of his illegal activities.
Lerias was immediately arrested after selling his illegal merchandise to non-uniformed policemen during a tradeoff in Purok Santa Cruz in Barangay Dadiangas West in General Santos City, an entrapment operation that barangay officials observed from a distance.
The office of Brig. Gen. Arnold Ardiente, PRO 12’s director, announced, via a statement released on Wednesday, that the suspect is now locked in a police detention facility, awaiting prosecution for violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.