GENERAL SANTOS CITY -- Two alleged drug pushers were killed while two others, including a former jail officer, were arrested in an anti-drug operation in a village here on Monday.
Supt. Aldrin Gonzales, public information officer of the Police Regional Office (PRO)-12, said the operation was in line with the implementation of four search warrants against suspected drug personalities based in Barangay Baluan.
He said suspects Antonio Villaplana Jr. and Ruel Magaway, were gunned down by operatives after resisting arrest and engaging them in separate shootouts.
The official said elements led by the PRO-12’s Regional Police Drug Enforcement Unit (RPDEU) simultaneously raided early Monday morning the houses of Villaplana in Purok San Vicente and Magaway’s in Purok Mapagmahal.
The operation was backed by personnel from the Regional Mobile Force Battallion-12, City Mobile Force Company, Lagao police station and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-Region 12.
“When the team arrived, the suspects tried to escape and opened fire so our operatives were forced to shoot them,” Gonzales said.
He said the raiding team rushed the suspects a nearby hospital but were declared dead upon arrival by attending doctors.
Recovered from Villaplana were a caliber .38 revolver and three sachets of suspected metamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu while Magaway yielded a caliber .45 handgun and three sachets of suspected shabu.
RPDEU sources said the slain suspects were known drug pushers and included in the city’s drug watch list.
Villaplana worked as a carpenter while Magaway was a customs broker at the Bureau of Customs here.
Baluan barangay chair Armand Diamante said the two surrendered voluntarily to the city police last year under operation plan or Oplan Tokhang but continued with their illegal activities.
Meantime, Gonzales said the two other search operations resulted to the arrest of suspects Faith Irish dela Torre of Purok Masagana and Necon Serapio of Purok San Jose.
He said the team recovered from Dela Torre’s possession six sachets of suspected shabu and P240,000 in cash.
Seized from Serapio, who is a former member of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, were four sachets of suspected shabu, he said.
“He (Serapio) is classified as a street level target in the city police’s drug watch list,” Gonzales said.
He said the suspects are currently detained at the Lagao police station while the recovered evidences were brought to the Regional Crime Laboratory Office-12 for proper examination and valuation.
Chief Supt. Marcelo Morales, Region 12 police director, called the raids as “legitimate operation” and lauded the efforts of the operating team to cleanse the city of illegal drugs and criminality.
“Expect more operations in the coming days as we remain fully committed to carry out the marching orders of President (Rodrigo) Duterte and our Chief PNP (Philippine National Police Director General) Ronald dela Rosa in the war against illegal drugs,” he said.(PNA)
