2 killed over ‘tawas’ in shabu

FIVE more deaths were added to the number of suspected drug pushers and users killed during police operations or by unidentified motorcycle-riding gunmen in Central Visayas.

They included two men who were killed in Danao City, Cebu reportedly because they

2 killed over ‘tawas’ in shabu had added alum, locally known as “tawas”, to their shabu supply.

According to the figures released by the Police Regional Office (PRO) 7, there were 36 drug suspects killed in police operations from July 1 to 28 and 17 killed by unidentified gunmen.

However, seven more deaths were reported after the list came out last Friday. That brought the tally, so far, to 60.

Among those recently killed in Cebu Province was a man who was allegedly No. 7 on the anti-drug watch list of the San Remigio Police Station.

Francisco “Franky” Puntay, 48, had previously shown up at the station in response to Oplan Tokhang, but who returned to the drug trade after signing a pledge to stop peddling or using drugs.

Safety

During a buy-bust, just as the decoy signaled to the other operatives to approach and arrest Puntay, the latter allegedly tried to draw a gun from his belt.

But Puntay reportedly pulled the trigger before he had released the safety lock, so it did not fire. The police shot him instead.

“Mismo iyang asawa o ang mga tawo diri, nakaingon gud nga nibalik siya’g pagpamaligya bisan kapila gibadlong (His wife and some of the residents here attested that he went back to selling even if he had repeatedly been told to stop),” PO1 Clyde Andales of the San Remigio Police Station said in an interview with Sun.Star Cebu.

The wife, according to the police, had told Puntay to make sure he locked his gun. She had scolded him for placing it carelessly in their house whenever he was repacking drugs. She worried that their children would get hurt.

After the buy-bust, the police drove him to a hospital but Puntay did not make it alive.

Marked

Found on the scene were .10 grams of shabu (worth P5,000 based on the Dangerous Drugs Board’s estimate) and one .38 revolver with four bullets.

Two suspected drug pushers were also killed in Danao City yesterday because they were believed to have mixed alum with their shabu supply.

Edsel Mutillo, 32, and Jose Gorre, 49 were shot by 5 unidentified and masked gunmen at 4:20 a.m. yesterday while they were in an interior portion of the area, allegedly waiting for users to buy shabu from them.

According to Senior Insp. Alejandro Batobalonos, chief of Danao Police Station, Mutillo and Gorre were on the drugs watch list of their police station.

A piece of paper with the words “Pusher ako” was placed beside the bodies of the two men.

Based on similar incidents in their place, Batobalonos said the police didn’t believe vigilantes had killed the victims, but probably customers whom they had deceived by selling shabu laced with tawas.

He added that the two were street-level drug pushers.

In Cebu City, a carpenter was shot dead by two men on a motorcycle. A piece of cardboard with the words “Pusher/carnapper/ akyat bahay by CCDS” was placed beside the victim’s body in Sitio Candahuan, Barangay Talamban yesterday dawn.

Death squad?

Police are still investigating if the acronym CCDS means “Cebu City Death Squad.”

Rogil Nudalo, 38, was gunned down by motorcycle-riding men while he was drinking with two companions.

According to an initial investigation by the Homicide Section, the back rider of the motorcycle disembarked and pulled out a handgun, hitting Nudalo in the chest. His companions ran to a police station to ask for help.

The assailant got back on the motorcycle and fled.

Found on the scene were four empty shells and the cardboard. Police are still investigating if the attack was drug-related.

A few hours later, an alleged drug pusher was killed while his live-in partner and two other persons were arrested when the Mandaue City Police Office-City Intelligence Branch (CIB) served search warrants in Purok Star Apple, Barangay Umapad.

CIB personnel shot Rufino Panes, 41, when he allegedly pulled out a gun to prevent the police from entering their house yesterday afternoon. Supt. Bernouli Abalos, the CIB chief, led the operation.

Neighbors

Senior Insp. Ricky Calong, chief of the City Anti-Illegal Drug Special Operation Task Group under CIB, said they applied for two search warrants against Maria Nitha Jadraqui, 39, and Eduardo Baclohan Jr., 29.

CIB teams simultaneously served the search warrants at the houses of Jadraqui and Baclohan, who were neighbors, around 1:20 p.m. Executive Judge Teresita Galanida of Regional Trial Court Branch 56 in Mandaue issued the warrants last July 29.

Calong said the police did not expect that Panes, live-in partner of Jadraqui, would try to shoot them.

“Ni- react siya mao nga napugos mi pagpusil niya (We had to shoot him because he drew his firearm),” he said.

Panes had two gunshot wounds.

In an interview, Abalos said that Panes was brought to the Mandaue City Hospital, but eventually died.

Calong said that Jadraqui had long been selling illegal drugs and was listed on the Barangay Anti-Drug Abuse Council’s watch list.

Jadraqui and her sons, ages 3 and 1 year old, were safe after the shooting.

Children

Calong said that Jadraqui allegedly used her sons when selling illegal drugs by carrying them during transactions, possibly for cover.

Jadraqui admitted that her husband previously sold illegal drugs, but said that he had stopped.

She denied that she was a drug pusher and or that she had used the children for illegal activities.

During the search of Jadraqui’s house, police recovered a .38 revolver, six sachets of suspected shabu, weighing scale, empty plastics, forceps and drug paraphernalia.

Abalos said the children will be turned over to the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

CIB also arrested Baclohan and Jevril Navarro, 23.

Calong said that Baclohan had surrendered last July 26, but returned to his old ways.

Police confiscated six sachets of suspected shabu, empty plastics and drug paraphernalia in Baclohan’s house.

Two sachets of suspected shabu were seized from Navarro’s possession. Navarro admitted that he used illegal drugs, but denied selling them. JOB/ FMG/HBL of Sun.Star Superbalita