CABANATUAN CITY –– Four people were killed in separate police operations in Nueva Ecija province at dawn on Monday, March 29.
The fatalities were identified as Samuel Catacutan, Michael Rivera, Ricky Samin, and a certain “Mico.”
Lt. Col. Barnard Danie Dasugo, city police chief, said Catacutan died from bullet wounds after a shootout with an anti-narcotics agent after being caught selling “shabu” (crystal meth) to an undercover agent in Barangay Barrera at 1:40 a.m.
Rivera and “Mico” were also killed after engaging lawmen in a gunfight as they were being arrested for allegedly selling an illegal handgun in Barangay MS Garcia here at 12:40 am, Dasugo said.
Samin died in another drug buy-bust operation in Barangay Mapangpang in Lupao town.
Two sachets of suspected shabu, three .38 revolvers, and a .9-mm pistol were recovered from the suspects, the police said.