Policeman, companion slain in South Cotabato drug operation
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KORONADAL CITY – Two persons, including a former police officer, were killed in an operation in Sto. Niño town, South Cotabato province for reportedly violently resisting the conduct of a court-backed search, a police spokesperson said Saturday.
Supt. Aldrin Gonzales said elements of the Regional Police Drug Enforcement Unit and the Sto. Niño police office were serving search warrants against former Police Officer 2 Edgar Porras in Barangay Poblacion when he and a companion opened fire on the approaching lawmen on Friday.
Porras, who was previously assigned in Caraga region, and his companion, Henry Vera, were killed.
Gonzales said recovered after the shootout were a 9-millimeter pistol, a .38 caliber handgun and 19 sachets of suspected shabu.
Another man, Rene Ybañez, was also arrested and a Magnum .357 handgun was recovered from him.
“It was a legitimate operation and ended bloody when the slain suspects opened fire on our troops,” Gonzales told the Inquirer.
The deaths of the two suspects brought to 55 the number of drug personalities killed in the provinces of Sarangani, South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat and in the cities within them since the police conducted intensified anti-drugs operation under President Dutete’s war on drugs.
