Codeniera was shot at close range

Noel Codeniera, the suspected big-time pusher who was killed by policemen serving a search warrant in Liloan town on Monday, was shot at close range, results of an autopsy show.

Chief Insp. Benjamin Lara, medico-legal officer of the regional crime laboratory, said he found tattooing or powder burns on Codeniera’s gunshot wound in the chest that indicate that he was shot from a distance of around 24 inches.

Codeniera alias Muslim sustained two fatal gunshot wounds. His heart and liver were hit while another bullet punctured his pancreas.

He was the subject of a month-long police surveillance and search warrant from the Mandaue City Regional Trial Court.

No rubout

Supt. Rodolfo Albotra, chief of the Provincial Intelligence Branch, said there was no rubout in Codeniera’s death.

He said policemen fired at Codeniera after the suspect reached for his gun upon seeing the police closing in on his residence in barangay Yati.

Albotra said his men were directed not to hesitate to use force when they see signs of resistance.
The PIB chief said they are tracing the paper trail based on entries on notebooks and remittance receipts they recovered from Codeniera’s hideout.

He said police initially found the name of the wife of a drug dealer who is detained in the Cebu provincial jail.

Albotra said this somewhat validates their information that the wife has taken over her husband’s illegal operations.

Four people who were among the eight arrested in Monday’s raid were released yesterday for lack of evidence.

Three of them were women while the lone male was a neighborhood handyman who was contracted to build a toilet in the two-house compound.

The four who remain in police custody – Errel Limbojan, Benjie Sitenta, Rene Solon and Jeffrey Contreras – will be facing drug and gun possession charges.

Albotra identified Limbajon as Codeniera’s “birador” or henchman.

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