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COTABATO CITY – Three drug suspects died following a shootout with police operatives here on Tuesday morning.
Capt. Rustom Pastolero, city police station 2 commander, identified the fatalities as Abdul Ali Duluan, Benjie Villanueva Fortich, and Saidamen Kasanguan, all of Purok Paraiso, Barangay Rosary Heights 7 here.
“Our poseur-buyer was negotiating with the suspects in the village when the group sensed of a buy-bust and pulled out their guns, triggering a shootout,” Pastolero said of the 10 a.m. incident.
He said the suspects ran to a nearby creek while firing at pursuing lawmen, where they were cornered but refused to give up.
“The trio continued on firing, prompting our police operatives to neutralize them,” Pastolero said.
He said Duluan died on the spot, while the two other suspects expired while undergoing treatment at the hospital.
Pastolero said the principal target of the operation identified only as a certain “Gino” managed to elude arrest.
“We have been following the activities of Gino’s group for the last two months,” he said.
Recovered from the group were nine sachets of suspected shabu, the buy-bust money, and a revolver.
“Our police team is still looking for other firearms at the creek where the suspects ran,” Pastolero said.
On Monday, police agents here also busted a delivery truck driver and his helper who yielded some PHP170,000 worth of suspected shabu during a drug sting operation along Notre Dame Avenue, Barangay Rosary Heights 2.
Arrested were delivery truck driver Romulo Joseco Able Jr., 46, of San Lorenzo, Davao Del Sur, and his helper whose identity was withheld pending further verification.
Lt. Davis Panasigan, team leader of the police’s Regional Mobile Force Battalion, said found in Able’s possession were four jumbo packs of suspected shabu weighing some 25 grams and the buy-bust money.
The suspects are now at the city Police Station 1 detention facility pending the filing of charges against them for violation of Republic Act 9165, the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002. (PNA)
