COTABATO CITY – Police authorities in Sultan Kudarat province said they have neutralized a drug high-value target and arrested one of the most wanted persons in the province during separate law enforcement operations on Wednesday.
Lt. Colonel Lino Capellan, spokesperson of the Police Regional Office–12, said police and agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) were about to arrest suspected drug peddler Nasrudin Diocolano during a drug buy-bust operation in Barangay Salaman, Lebak, Sultan Kudarat when he allegedly resisted and tried to engage lawmen in a shootout.
“He (Diocolano) pulled his .38-caliber revolver after sensing he was dealing with a police poseur buyer, forcing law enforcers to shoot him,” Capellan said.
Diocolano, 40, was rushed to the hospital but was declared dead on arrival by attending doctors, the police official said.
Seized from Diocolano’s possession were the .38-caliber revolver, 38 pieces of bullets, four sachets of suspected shabu and the marked money, police said.
In Lutayan, Sultan Kudarat, police officers led by Major Haron Sumensil, arrested Mariano Bolaño, the ninth most wanted person in town who was facing frustrated murder charges.
On the same day, two other wanted persons for drug peddling were separately arrested in the towns of Isulan and Esperanza, both in Sultan Kudarat.
In a statement, Brig. Gen. Alfred Corpus, director of PRO-12, and Lt. Colonel Reynaldo Celestino, Sultan Kudarat police director, lauded the efforts of the operating teams for carrying out their mandate in "eliminating violators of the law to ensure public safety and security". (PNA)
