Police: Cebu City jail detainee could be behind Brgy Mambaling shootings

This is a stock photo of a man with a gun.

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Police are looking at the possibility that a Cebu City Jail detainee could be the mastermind behind the series of shooting incidents in Barangay Mambaling after he was allegedly tagged as one of the heads of a big drug group operating in Cebu City.

Police Major Juanito Dindo Alaras, Mambaling Police Station chief, said that they received reports that the detainee, has gunmen who are tasked to liquidate those who they perceive to be helping authorities stop their illegal operations.

Alaras said they are still verifying these reports.

Police Lieutenant Colonel Wilbert Parilla, deputy director for operations of the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO), seconded this saying that a few years ago, the Mambaling police conducted an operation to neutralize the drug group that the detainee is reportedly affiliated with.

Parilla added that the detainee, whom he identified as Bonjo “Jojo” Sumayang, allegedly ordered his men to attack the responding police before the latter could conduct their buy-bust operation.

Parilla said that Sumayang has been behind bars for years now.

Investigators traced Sumayang as the one transacting with a ‘drug pusher’ identified as Jungbae Sumayang on Monday evening, July 19, in Sitio Naba, Barangay Mambaling.

Some 350 grams of suspected shabu worth P2,380,000 were confiscated from the suspect during the buy-bust. Jungbae is reportedly a cousin of the detained Sumayang.

Cebu City Jail Superintendent Jose Abueva for his part said they are still checking the veracity of reports linking Sumayang to the recent shooting incidents in the city as well as his continued involvement in illegal drugs.

Abueva said that Sumayang is now under investigation.

READ: P2.3M worth of ‘shabu’ seized in Mambaling drug bust

Meanwhile, Parilla said that they have yet to identify the perpetrators of the shooting incident last July 19, which claimed the life of 32-year-old Flora Mae Yuson in Sitio Huyong-Huyong, Barangay Mambaling.

Parilla said that perhaps the attackers believed Yuson was a police asset since she once worked with a big-time drug personality.

The recent shootings prompted Parilla to assure the safety of their police assets saying they are crucial partners in the fight against illegal drugs.

Last June 21, 44-year-old Abner Sumadia was also killed in broad daylight by a still unidentified assailant in Sitio Bliss of the same barangay.    /rcg

READ: Boss of drug group may have targeted woman killed in Mambaling, Cebu CIty.

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