Two drug suspects caught packing shabu, shot dead

Senior Insp. Regino Maramag, Mambaling police chief, shows the guns and drugs seized from the suspects.
(CDN Photo/Lito Tecson)

Two men caught repacking shabu in a rented house died in a shootout with police on Sitio Lawis, Alaska in Barangay Mambaling, Cebu City yesterday morning.

Senior Insp. Regino Maramag, Mambaling police precinct chief, said Marlon Racal and Darius Cuizon had been under surveillance for one week when they were supposedly caught repacking shabu by plain clothes policemen.

They responded to a call from a tipster who said the two men rented a house there.

Maramag said the suspects, who were level two drug pushers that can dispose of 50 grams of shabu a week, fired at police on sensing their arrival in the area.

The police returned fire and hit Racal and Cuizon, who were brought to the Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC) but failed to make it.

Recovered from their possession were one .45 pistol, one .38 revolver, a large pack and four small packs of shabu worth P60,000 and drug paraphernalia. Maramag said he submitted the two firearms for paraffin tests.

Guillerma Capito, the house owner, said she knew both of them to be drug users but not as drug pushers.

“They use drugs but they don’t mess with anyone,” she said.

She clarified that Racal and Cuizon only stayed in the house which is rented by a woman whose live-in partner is a friend to both men.

The Police Regional Office said the deaths of Racal and Cuizon raised to 11 the number of drug suspects killed in confrontation with the police in Central Visayas.

Maramag said Racal and Cuizon were in their watch list.

Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña said the police who shot down Racal and Cuizon will receive a cash reward for their efforts.

“When will we give the cash reward? Anytime,” Osmeña told reporters in Cebuano. /With UP Cebu Interns Patrick Byron G. Gattoc and Morexette Marie Erram