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TAGUM CITY, Davao del Norte—Two persons were killed while two others were arrested during a raid by policemen on a suspected drug den in Sto. Tomas in Davao del Norte late Monday, police said.
According to Senior Supt. Samuel Gadingan, Davao del Norte provincial police chief, several weapons and illegal drugs were seized by the law enforcers who swooped down on two houses believed used as a drug den near a piggery in Barangay Salvacion past 8:30 p.m. Monday.
Gadingan said the raiders, who were armed with a warrant, were fired upon when they arrived to search the house of businessman Rogie Majarucon, 41, triggering a gun battle in which the businessman and one Rodolfo Padillo were killed. No one among the raiders was hurt, Gadingan added.
He said two other persons, Aiza Zamora, 19, and Jenny Bimbo Sumatra, 32, an electrician, were arrested following the alleged shootout.
“They had been under surveillance for several months now. The slain subject was in fact on the PDEA (Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency) list” of alleged drug pushers, said a police officer involved in the operation but asked for anonymity for lack of authority to speak to the media.
Gadingan said the raiders recovered from the scene of the encounter five sachets of shabu (methamphetamine hydrochloride), drug paraphernalia, as well as two homemade shotguns, two pistols and several rounds of ammunition.
Monday’s operation was the latest in the local police’s intensified drive against illegal drugs, which authorities have blamed for a recent spike in criminality in the province.
On July 19, an alleged drug peddler was also shot dead and three others arrested in an operation by local police in a coastal village in Tagum City.