CEBU CITY, Philippines — Police in Negros Oriental scored big in its anti-illegal drug campaign after they killed a man, whom they believed was one of the biggest illegal drug suppliers in Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental.
Aside from that, they also confiscated at least P13 million worth of suspected shabu from the suspect during the buy-bust operation in Barangay Magatas, Sibulan town, Negros Oriental at past midnight of Sunday, September 20, 2020.
Joemarie Yongco of San Carlos City, Negros Occidental died after he suffered a gunshot wound in the stomach in the shootout with Negros Oriental policemen during the buy-bust operation at 12:30 a.m. on Sunday, September 20, 2020, said Police Colonel Arnel Banzon, Negros Oriental Police Provincial Office (NOPPO) chief in a phone interview with CDN Digital.
Banzon also said that they found 2 kilos of suspected shabu inside the backpack that Yongco was carrying with him.
He said that the confiscated suspected shabu had an estimated Dangerous Drugs Board value of P13,770,000.
Shootout
Investigation showed that Yongco suddenly pulled out a .45 caliber pistol and fired at the undercover policeman, who purchased 25 grams of suspected shabu from the suspect.
When Yongco realized that he was dealing with a policeman, he pulled out a gun and fired at the undercover policeman and his back-up policemen.
None of the policemen was hit, and when they fired back, they hit Yongco in the stomach who later died.
Banzon said they were not expecting the 2 kilos of illegal drugs inside Yongco’s backpack, which were placed inside a plastic pack that should have contained tea bags.
“Ang gi transact lang gyud ana kay 25 grams unya pag katong after sa ilahang encounter unya na abot ang medical team, amoang gi inspect iyang bag nga daghan pa diay sulod,” said Banzon.
(The transaction for the buy-bust operation was only 25 grams of shabu and after the encounter and when the medical team arrived, we inspected the backpack and found many more illegal drugs inside.)
He said that Yongco must have a plan to bring this 2 kilos of suspected shabu and drop them in Dumaguete City.
Hight value individual
Banzon also said that the buy-bust operation was conducted after they placed Yongco under surveillance for at least a month, where they found out about his illegal activities.
He said they already classified Yongco as a high value individual in their drug watchlist after the surveillance.
Read:Cebu City cops arrest 3 HVIs, confiscate P47.6M worth of shabu
He also said that he would try to coordinate with Cebu City policemen, who had arrested three men and confiscated nearly P50 million worth of suspected shabu and try to find out if the illegal drugs confiscated from Cebu City and that of the Sibulan drug bust came from the same source in San Carlos City.
He said it could be possible that these people arrested in Cebu City and the one they killed in Sibulan town belonged to one group./dbs