INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
COTABATO CITY, Maguindanao, Philippines — Police in Lanao del Sur have launched a manhunt against a group identified with a village councilman in Saguiaran town who traded shots with law enforcers on Thursday in an anti-drug operation.
Abuhanan Dimaporo Sultan, a councilman of Barangay Limogan in Saguiaran, was slain in a shootout with police when he and three companions fired on operatives as they were flagged down along the highway in Barangay Mipaga, according to a report sent by Col. Jibin Bongcayao, Lanao del Sur police director, to Brig. Gen. John Guyguyon, police director of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
Sultan is a high-value target of the police. Civilian informants alerted authorities that he was sighted in Marawi City and heading toward Saguiaran town.
Boncayao said a tracker team verified the suspect’s presence and the operation was immediately set up.
In the brief firefight, Sultan sustained multiple gunshot wounds resulting in his immediate death while his companions fled, Boncayao said.
Police later found 300 grams of meth in Sultan’s bag, estimated to value P2.04 million, and a .45-caliber pistol.
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