Cagayan cop shot, wounded in butt after anti-logging operation

TUGUEGARAO CITY—A deputy police chief who led an anti-illegal logging operation in Peñablanca town, Cagayan province was wounded in a gun attack on Thursday (Nov. 26).

The officer was identified as Lt. Randy Baccay, of the Penablanca police force.

Investigators said Baccay was on his way home after the anti-logging operation when one of the suspected poachers at the village of Minanga shot Baccay in the back.

The officer suffered a gunshot wound in the butt, said Col. Ariel Quilang, Cagayan provincial police chief.

Gov. Manuel Mamba condemned the shooting and ordered policemen to identify and arrest the assailant who had escaped after the attack.

Mamba said it was not the first time that a law enforcer had been attacked by poachers in the area.

Three government forest rangers had been killed in the province.

“There are protectors of illegal logging in the area that is why police officers have a hard time putting an end to tree cutting and poaching there,” Mamba said.

TSB