Danao City police chief Senior Insp. Alejandro Batobalonos has ordered a manhunt for eight unidentified armed men who barged into the house of three brothers to gun them down while they were asleep, Thursday dawn. (CDN FILE PHOTO)
Pamilya pusher wag tularan (Family of pushers. Don’t be like them). ”
The ominous warning, written on a piece of cardboard, was found on the lifeless bodies of three brothers who were gunned down by no less than eight unidentified armed men in Danao City, Cebu, early dawn yesterday.
Police investigators were looking at a drug-related motive for the killing since the three brothers identified as Jay Lato, 30; Jake, 27; and Jave, 24, were notorious drug pushers in Barangay Dunggo-an where they lived.
The three brothers were shot dead at past 1 a.m., Thursday, after eight men barged into their house in Dunggo-an as they were sleeping.
They were among the many self-confessed drug personalities who surrendered to the Philippine National Police (PNP) during its implementation of Oplan Tokhang, the nationwide campaign to haul in tens of thousands of drug users and pushers by simply knocking on their doors and asking them to stop.
Reports reaching PNP pointed to the brothers as still among the city’s most notorious drug pushers even after their surrender.
“The brothers are in our drug watch list. We’ve been receiving reports about their illegal drug activities from (people in) their neighborhood,” said Senior Insp. Alejandro Batobalonos, chief of the Danao police.
Batobalonos said that the brothers usually transacted with truck drivers from different areas in northern Cebu.
Their house, according to Batobalonos, was also a known drug den in Danao where drug pushers and users from Cebu City came together.
Recovered from the crime scene were eight empty shells of a .45 caliber pistol.
A police operative also saw the handwritten sign, “Pamilya, pusher, wag tularan,” during an ocular inspection; however, investigating policemen could no longer find it, said Batobalonos.
“I believe those who killed them were their competitors in the drug trade,” added the chief of Danao City’s police force.
More killings
Meanwhile, another drug suspect identified as 38-year-old Rey Siscon was shot dead by six unidentified men who barged into his house in Barangay Sabang, Danao City, at around 12 midnight yesterday.
Siscon, a motorcycle-for-hire driver who earlier surrendered to the PNP before he went back into selling illegal drugs, was killed also while he was sleeping.
Recovered from the crime scene were four empty shells of a caliber .45 pistol.