ILIGAN CITY – Marawi City police authorities shot dead a fugitive, who was among the dozens of inmates set free by the Maute group last year, during an anti-drug operation on Saturday.
Senior Supt. John Guyguyon, the Lanao del Sur police director, said on Sunday that Ogie Ditingki Hadji opened fire on law enforcers during the 9 p.m. drug buy-bust in Barangay Roroagus in Marawi.
The village was largely unscathed in the five-month siege of Marawi City and had not been deserted by residents.
“(Hadji) first fired on the authorities that resulted in a firefight and killing of the suspect,” said Senior Inspector Jemar Delos Santos, spokesperson of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) police.
He said recovered from the slain suspect was a .38 caliber revolver and two heat-sealed plastic sachets containing shabu.
Guyguyon said Hadji was being detained at the Marawi City jail for murder and carjacking when set free by Maute gunmen on May 23, along with dozens of other inmates.
In Margosatubig, Zamboanga del Sur, a suspected drug pusher was arrested in an operation in Barangay Poblacion, the police said.
Senior Inspector Harry Velez, Margosatubig police chief, said arrested during Friday’s buy-bust operation was Rancham Cloyd Lopez Hinotan, 22, of Igat Island, also in Margosatubig.
Velez said seized from Hinotan were a sachet of shabu and the marked money used in the operation.
The suspect is now being held at the Margosatubig police jail facing charges for the violation of the anti-drugs law. /cbb