Drugs found where Batangas cop was killed

SAN PEDRO CITY — Illegal drugs were found on the scene where a police officer was shot dead by bonnet-clad men in Tanauan City in Batangas province, police said in a report Thursday.

Police Officer 3 Eric Lindo, 46, assigned at the Personnel Holding Administrative Unit in Camp Crame since October last year, and an unidentified companion were on board his car when they were ambushed around 2 p.m. Wednesday in Barangay (village) Pagaspas, Inspector Hazel Luma-ang, Batangas police spokesperson, said in a phone interview Thursday.

The gunmen were on board another car that seemed to have waited for the victims to pass by.

Quoting Lindo’s companion, Luma-ang said the gunmen fired several shots aimed at the victim’s windshield, forcing Lindo to stop the car.

She said the policeman tried to escape by crawling out of the car but one of the gunmen walked up to him and finished him off.

The victim’s companion was unscathed after taking cover under the car dashboard but told police that prior to the attack, “he heard a boy (out in the street) whistle as if giving a signal” to the attackers.

She also said the gunmen took Lindo’s black sling bag and his service firearm before escaping.

Luma-ang said the investigators later recovered two sachets of “shabu” (methamphetamine hydrochloride) along with Lindo’s other personal effects on the crime scene, but would not confirm if the drugs actually belonged to the slain officer.

She said Lindo did not have any bad record from his previous assignments and it was normal routine for policemen to get re-assigned. Lindo was formerly assigned at the Sto. Tomas police station in Batangas before he was transferred./rga