COTABATO CITY – Police authorities, backed by anti-narcotics agents, killed a drug suspect in a shootout during a pre-dawn anti-drug operation in Pikit, North Cotabato, Thursday.
Chief Inspector Romy Castañares, the Pikit police chief, identified the slain suspect as Poloy Pagilidan, 45, a resident of Barangay Dalingawen in Pikit.
A team of police and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) elements swooped down on Pagilidan’s residence in Sitio Daya around 3 a.m. to serve a search warrant issued against him and two others by a local court.
But the authorities were met by gunfire from the suspects and a shootout ensued, wounding Pagilidan in the process, police said.
As smoke cleared, the raiding team brought the wounded Pagilidan to the hospital but he was declared dead on arrival.
The two other suspects, identified as Jaime Kinto and Bai Pagilidan, managed to elude arrest and are now the subject of a manhunt.
“The suspects have long been under surveillance by lawmen and it was only on Thursday that they were monitored to be in one place,” Castañares said.
Seized from Pagilidan’s house were one sling bag with one opened packet and 13 heat-sealed sachets of suspected shabu, with an estimated street value of PhP30, 000; guns and a motorcycle allegedly used by the suspects in their illegal activities. (Noel Punzalan/PNA)
