Druggies killed by cops in Munti, gunmen in QC

Two men linked to illegal drugs were killed in Muntinlupa and Quezon City, one shot dead by the police, the other by unidentified gunmen.

The Muntinlupa police said a team of officers conducting “Oplan Galugad”—a “search-and-seize” antidrug operation—had to chase Jeffrey Tuloy because he “ran away” as the lawmen approached him along the train tracks in Barangay Bayanan around 8 p.m.

When cornered at a shanty built inside a tunnel near the boundary of Bayanan and Alabang, Tulay drew a pistol and fired at P01 John Vien dela Peña, prompting the officer to shoot back, according to Supt. Marites Salvadora, the assistant police chief for administration.

Tuloy sustained four gunshot wounds—one in the face and three in the body—and was later declared dead at Ospital ng Muntinlupa.

Salvadora said the tunnel, which is actually part of the PNR drainage system, was being used as a drug den where the police often found sachets emptied of “shabu” (methamphetamine hydrochloride), tooters and pieces of aluminum foil.

She said crime scene investigators recovered Tuloy’s firearm—an improvised shotgun—and two sachets of suspected shabu and drug paraphernalia which he kept in his pocket.

Tuloy was not on the police drug watch list but had been identified by Bayanan residents as a drug pusher, the officer added.

In Quezon City, masked gunmen shot dead early Monday a 33-year-old resident who surrendered under the “Oplan Tokhang” antidrug campaign last year.

The Quezon City Police District (QCPD) identified the victim as Marlon Cruz, a driver of a habal-habal or a motorbike that takes paying passengers.

A report to the district director, Chief Supt. Guillermo Eleazar, said Cruz surrendered to the QCPD-Batasan station on the first day of Tokhang’s implementation in July last year.

The investigation showed that the victim was shot several times in front of a drug store at the corner of Commonwealth and Tandang Sora avenues at 1:05 a.m.

An eyewitness recalled seeing at least two assailants, both wearing hooded jackets and masks, fleeing in a vehicle after the attack. —DEXTER CABALZA AND JHESSET O. ENANO