Lt. Col. Lino Capellan, spokesperson of the Police Regional Office 12. (Photo courtesy of the PRO-12)
GENERAL SANTOS CITY – A target-listed drug personality was killed in a police anti-drug operation in South Cotabato province on Monday afternoon.
Lt. Col. Lino Capellan, the spokesperson of Police Regional Office (PRO) 12 (Soccsksargen), identified the slain suspect as Francisco Salcedo Lasin Jr., 39, a resident of Purok Bonifacio, Barangay Cinco in Banga town, South Cotabato.
Capellan said the suspect was killed after resisting arrest during a buy-bust operation launched by elements of the Regional Police Drug Enforcement Unit 12 at his home at about 4:45 p.m.
The entrapment was backed by personnel of the Banga municipal police station and was launched in coordination with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency 12.
During the entrapment, Capellan said an undercover police officer managed to buy a sachet of suspected shabu worth PHP1,000 from the suspect.
However, he said, Lasin suddenly pulled out a handgun after sensing that he was transacting with a police officer and attempted to flee.
“He tried to shoot our operative but his gun misfired and that gave the operating team the chance to fire back,” Capellan said in a statement.
He said the operatives brought the suspect, who was fatally wounded, to the nearest hospital but was declared dead upon arrival.
Recovered from Lasin’s possession were a caliber .38 revolver loaded with four rounds of ammunition, a PHP1,000 marked bill and a gray sling bag that contained five sachets of suspected shabu.
Capellan said the suspect, who was listed as an employee of a multinational company, was included in the inter-agency drug information database or the former drug list of President Rodrigo Duterte.
“He was categorized as a Level 1 high-value target,” he said. (PNA)
