Rookie cop killed, 3 hurt in failed drug raid in Bohol

Seedling marijuana plants. AP FILE PHOTO

CEBU CITY—A rookie policeman was killed while three other officers were wounded Friday when a lone drug suspect shot at a team of intelligence and anti-narcotics operatives during a raid on a drug den in Tagbilaran City, Bohol.

PO1 Michael June Ejoc of the Bohol Provincial Intelligence Branch suffered fatal bullet wounds in the head and neck.

Supt. Paul Labra II, chief of the Regional Intelligence Division, identified the three wounded as PO2 Judito Jasmin, PO1 Rinan Tagotongan, and PO1 Carlito Gamalo, all from the Bohol Provincial Intelligence Branch.

A 10-member team from the PIB and the police’s Provincial Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operation Task Force went to a shanty in Tagbilaran’s Barangay after receiving a tip that a pot session was going on there.

Jasmin, Tagotongan, Gamalo and Ejoc went ahead of the others. But before they could get into the shanty, they were met with bursts of gunfire.

The lone perpetrator, who was later identified as Bejun Tari, immediately fled on a motorcycle after shooting the policemen, said Labra.