2 ‘nanlaban’ drug suspects killed in Cotabato anti-drug raid

The items seized during a dawn raid in Pikit town of Cotabato province. PHOTO COURTESY OF PDEA

PIKIT, COTABATO—Two drug suspects cornered in an anti-drug operation at a village here early on Thursday (July 23) were killed after they fought back, or nanlaban, and were shot by a law enforcement team composed of police, Army and anti-narcotics agents.

Capt. Mautin Pangandigan, Pikit police chief, said law enforcers were serving a search warrant on Mutalib Bulod in his home at the village of Manaulanan around 2:20 a.m.

Pangandigan said Mutalib and his companion, Asty Guiamalon Bulod, shot at the law enforcement team, leading to a gunfight that led to the suspects’ killing.

The search warrant against Mutalib was for illegal drugs, issued by Judge Lily Lydia Laquindanum, of Regional Trial Court Branch 24 in Midsayap, Cotabato.

Recovered from Mutalib’s house were 42 sachets containing shabu, or crystal meth, weighing 10 grams with an estimated street value of P68,000.

Also seized were one M-16 rifle, a magazine, ammunition, two M-203 grenade launchers, a homemade shotgun and two hand grenades.

The drugs and firearms are now in the custody of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), said Pangandigan.

TSB