A 21-YEAR-OLD man was shot dead by the police during a buy-bust operation past 7 p.m. last Tuesday in Sitio Latasan, Barangay Labogon, Mandaue City.
Ariel Borbon allegedly pulled out a handgun after noticing that he was dealing with a police poseur-buyer. He allegedly pulled the trigger but the gun malfunctioned. Colleagues of the police poseur-buyer moved in and shot the suspect.
Police recovered from Borbon a .9 mm pistol and a medium-sized plastic pack of suspected shabu.
The team led by SPO1 Brent Fulmaran of the City Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Group has been monitoring Borbon since he surrendered to the police twice less than a month ago.
PO3 Art Abatayo said they conducted a buy-bust operation after learning that Borbon returned to selling alleged shabu. Borbon’s wife belied police allegations. She alleged that the policemen went to their house and one of them choked Borbon and fired at him, hitting him in the abdomen.
But Abatayo said it was a legitimate operation and not a rubout. “If only he had not aimed his gun at us, he wouldn’t have been shot,” Abatayo said in Cebuano.