GENERAL SANTOS CITY — Two alleged drug pushers were killed while two others were arrested in separate police anti-drug operations on Thursday evening and Friday morning in South Cotabato and Sarangani provinces.
Chief Insp. Alex Joe Orcajada, chief of the Polomolok municipal police station, said target-listed pushers Abdul Diok Magalino of Barangay Magsaysay, and Oliver Tejero of Barangay Poblacion were killed after resisting arrest during an entrapment operation at around 10 p.m. Thursday.
Orcajada said they initially subjected the suspects, who were included on the drug watchlist, to a buy-bust at the vicinity of Purok Masikap in Barangay Pagalungan.
While the transaction was ongoing, he said the suspects noticed the presence of police operatives and tried to flee. Orcajada said the two drew their handguns and opened fire, prompting the operatives to retaliate and hit them in the process.
He said the operating team immediately brought the suspects to the Polomolok Municipal Hospital but they were declared dead on arrival by attending doctors.
The police official said the two men were known drug pushers in the area and were reportedly linked to a local drug group.
“These are noted pushers and long been the subject of surveillance operations,” he added.
In Koronadal City, anti-drug operatives arrested another watch-listed drug pusher in a buy-bust operation in Purok Tagumpay, Barangay General Paulino Santos at around 11 p.m.
Supt. Benjiel Kirby Bajo, Koronadal City police chief, identified the suspect as Joven Bagio Dela Cruz, 28, a resident of Barangay Antong, Lutayan town in Sultan Kudarat.
Bajo said the suspect sold a sachet of suspected methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu worth PHP500 to a police officer, who posed as a buyer.
“He was the cohort of a noted pusher, who was apprehended three months ago,” the police official said, adding that they recovered from the suspect two more small sachets of suspected shabu valued at around PHP500.
At around 8 a.m. Friday, another suspected pusher was arrested by police operatives in a buy-bust operation along the national highway in Barangay Taluya, Glan town in Sarangani province.
The suspect was identified as Amarudin Anid, 46, a resident of Purok Matibay, Barangay Poblacion.
Anid, who was reportedly an employee of the Sarangani provincial government, was nabbed after selling a sachet of suspected shabu to a police officer who posed as a buyer. ( Alejandro Saludo/PNA)
