PIKIT, North Cotabato – An anti-drug operation here before dawn Friday turned bloody after a retired soldier traded shots with lawmen implementing search warrants for 11 persons.
Retired Sgt. Ibrahim Ayunan, 57, of Barangay Batulawan, fired at lawmen with his 9-mm. pistol, triggering a brief firefight that killed him during the 3 a.m. operation.
Chief Insp. Aldrin Gonzales, speaking for police in Central Mindanao, said a certain Salaban Sapalon Talusan was also arrested during the raid and a caliber 30 Garand rifle was taken from him.
Joint elements of the Regional and Provincial Police Drug Enforcement Units and Pikit police were to serve search warrants against 11 persons, including Ayunan and Talusan, for violation of Republic Act No. 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.
“There was resistance and the suspect was armed and dangerous, so there was a brief firefight,” Gonzales said of Ayunan who was injured and rushed to the Cruzado Medical Hospital in Poblacion Pikit but was pronounced dead on arrival.
Other subjects of the search warrant were not around during the operation. (PNA/Photo by Google Maps)
