5 killed in Bohol drug raid; P3.3M shabu seized
A suspected leader of a drug group and four of his cohorts were killed in an anti-drug operation that yielded P3.3 million worth of shabu in Barangay Cawayan, Inabanga, Bohol on Sunday, police said.
Killed were David Anunciado, the alleged leader of the illegal drug group, along with four of his alleged gang members identified as Leonides Enoc, Alipio Anuta, Melkin Ohina and Pio Justol.
Three others — Darya Nuñez, Justino Esturba and Renato Ompad Peticio — were arrested, according to Supt. George Ylanan, acting chief of the Regional Special Operations Group (RSOG) 7, who led the operation.
Ylanan said they have yet to establish the residences or hometowns of the slain suspects, but they were sure that the five men were not from Cebu City. Their remains were brought to a funeral parlor in Inabanga, he added.
The police operation also yielded eight firearms and three explosives — a M16 armalite rifle, a .22 caliber sniper rifle with scope, a KG-9 sub machine gun, a 12-gauge shot gun, four .45 caliber pistol and three live grenades — and several bullets of M16, .45 pistol, shotgun and 9mm.
At least P57,000 and 116 US dollars were also recovered, he said.
Ylanan said they learned that Anunciado and his gang were hiding in a nipa hut in Barangay Cawayan and went to serve two search warrants, one against Anunciado and the other against Edwin Estoce Puhas, for violation of Republic Act 10591 or the Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition Regulation Act, when the suspected drug peddlers fired at them.
He said Puhas was not around when the raid happened.
The operation was conducted hand in hand with operatives of the Regional Intelligence Division (RID) 7, Regional Public Safety Battalion (RPSB) 7 and the Inabanga Police.
Insp. Rolando Lumanas Antipolo, Inabanga police chief, said Inabanga was among the towns in Bohol with the highest street selling price for illegal drugs.
“We do not deny the drug trade here in Inabanga. That is why, in coordination with (other) law enforcement units, we have been conducting more operations to curb illegal activities here,” he said.
But Ylanan said Anunciado’s group operated in northern Cebu, where they could dispose up to five kilos of shabu (methamphetamine hydrochloride) per week, similar to the amount of drugs that was distributed by recently slain wanted drug lord Rowen Secretaria.
The Dangerous Drugs Board earlier estimated that five kilos of shabu has a street value of about P59 million at the prevailing rate of P11,800 per gram.
He said Anunciado had created his own armed gang, which explained why high-powered firearms and explosives were found in their possession.
“The area is located at the interior part of the barangay, around 5 kilometers from the highway. As we were on our way to the area, someone has already tipped us that there were at least eight armed persons in the area,” Ylanan told Cebu Daily News by phone.
Ylanan said they were approaching the nipa hut when armed men went outside the hut and began firing at them.
“The hut was located in an elevated area. As we were arriving gunshots were fired to our direction and we shot back,” he said.
He said armed suspects retreated back inside the nipa hut and engaged the policemen in a fire fight that lasted about 30 minutes.
Ylanan said that those who were arrested were taken into the custody of the Bohol Provincial Police Office (BPPO).
The death of the members of a big time drug group came barely a week after Secretaria, alias Yawa, was killed on Banacon Island, off the town of Getafe, also in Bohol.
Secretaria ranked third on the Top Ten illegal drug personalities in Central Visayas.
He was killed along with his alleged cohorts Jason Montes and Darrio Torremocia, after they purportedly drew their firearms against the operatives of the Regional Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Group (RAIDSOTG).
The team was led by Senior Insp. Joey Bicoy of the RAIDSOTG, together with operatives of the Regional Public Safety Battalion (RPSB-7) and the Provincial Intelligence Branch (PIB) of the Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO) to serve a warrant of arrest against Secretaria.
According to the police, Secretaria had made Banacon Island his hideout while disposing illegal drugs to his customers on Mactan Island (Lapu-Lapu City and Cordova town), Bohol and in Barangay Ermita, Cebu City, where he spent most of his childhood.
He had spent years for robbery charges in the national penitentiary in Muntinlupa City where police alleged he might have met his supplier for illegal drugs. /WITH LEO UDTOHAN, INQUIRER VISAYAS
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