A 17-year-old girl was rescued after police operatives of the Provincial Intelligence Branch (PIB) shot dead a suspected big time drug pusher in Toledo City in midwest Cebu yesterday afternoon.
SPO1 Reynaldo Solante said the buy-bust operation led to the shooting of Wilson “Pretty Boy” Villanueva, who tried to fire at the police in barangay Tubod.
Three of the suspects nabbed in the operation, along with assorted drug packets, money bills and guns. (CDN PHOTO/CHRISTIAN MANINGO)
“The community asked us to rescue the kid from the suspect,” Solante said.
The house owned by the girl’s mother was supposedly used as a drug den by Villanueva whose clients would drop by the area. The 17-year-old was his girlfriend.
A previous operation resulted in the discovery of PO1 Marvin Tundag’s uniform inside the house.
“Villanueva and Tundag are allegedly business partners so Villanueva managed to escape,” Solante said.
He said a cohort of Villanueva, who escaped yesterday’s operation, facilitated the drug sale with one policeman who posed as a buyer.
Solante said Villanueva tried to shoot one of the police officers after noticing he was armed.
“We had no choice but to shoot him in the stomach,” he said.
Villanueva was rushed to the hospital but died there a few minutes later.
Police said they confiscated 23 grams of illegal drugs worth P271,000, paraphernalia, one red Mazda sedan and a motorcycle.
The police arrested suspects Danilo Flores, Vincent Barcenas and Julius Cuberos. The girl and her mother were taken into police custody.
The girl’s rescue followed Saturday’s police operation against another drug pusher, Zaldy Bravo in Catmon town, who was shot dead in northern Cebu. Police rescued a 17-year-old boy and his 16-year-old female cousin working in the household as a houseboy and nanny.
In yesterday’s police operation in Toledo City, the girl’s mother said she had just arrived from a neighboring province where she attended to her ill mother.
“I just put my bag down when the police arrived. I have no idea what the operation was about,” she said. She said she didn’t know that her daughter was involved with Villanueva.
The girl had to be consoled by police officers after she cried and asked to be allowed to go home.
Solante said police are still studying whether to file charges against the mother.
The girl said she lied to her mother about her relationship with the suspect.
But police said the mother apparently knew what was going on in the house and tolerated the activities because of their tight financial situation.
Solante said the mother was not on good terms with her German husband who arrived from overseas to file an annulment of their marriage.
Solante said the girl was supposed to graduate this year but dropped out after her father stopped sending money.