3 drug suspects slain, P2.5M shabu recovered in Rizal drug busts

LUCENA CITY –– Three alleged drug pushers were killed in a buy-bust operation that resulted in gunfights in Rodriguez town in Rizal province on Wednesday, Feb. 17, the police said.

The Rizal police also reported having recovered more than P2.5 million worth of shabu (crystal meth) in the past 24 hours of anti-drug operations in the province.

Lieutenant Colonel Christopher de la Peña, Rodriguez police chief, reported that an alias “Turagsoy” was killed after firing first at undercover policemen during a drug sting in Barangay San Mascap around 9 a.m. on Wednesday.

Turagsoy was about to sell drugs to an undercover cop when he saw the backup policemen and drew his handgun and shot at one of them but missed his target.

The police fired back and killed “Turagsoy” on the spot, the report added.

The report said three armed cohorts of the slain suspect scampered and running gun battles ensued.

Two other suspects, also identified only by their aliases “Toto Ulama” and “Patay-patay,” were also killed in the armed encounter. Another suspect, an alias “Nano,” managed to escape.

Investigators recovered a total of 80 grams of shabu with an estimated Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) value of P544,000, the report said.

The police also found one caliber .45 pistol and two caliber .38 revolvers allegedly used by the slain suspects during the shootout.

The police tagged the slain suspects and Nano as alleged shabu distributors for a drug trader identified as Emarudin Naro, alias “Emrex.”

The report said the suspects also served as Naro’s hitmen, who killed street pushers or customers who failed to remit drug payments.

In a related report, 37 drug suspects were arrested in 26 buy-bust operations in different parts of the province in the past 24 hours.

Colonel Joseph Arguelles, Rizal police director, said anti-narcotics agents seized 302.2 grams of shabu with an estimated DDB value of P2,053,128 during the synchronized operations.

The report was posted by the Rizal police public information office on its Facebook page on Thursday morning.

LZB