Drug bust kills suspected pusher in Lapu

Drug bust kills suspected pusher in Lapu

A DRUG buy-bust led to a shootout that killed a suspected drug pusher in Barangay Gun-ob, Lapu-Lapu City last Wednesday night.

Five other drug suspects were arrested and more than 70 small sachets of suspected illegal drugs were confiscated during the joint operation of the LapuLapu City Police Office City Intelligence Branch and Gun-ob Police Station.

Last Tuesday night, a 38-year-old job- order worker of the Lapu-Lapu City Government was also arrested in a buy-bust in Barangay Buaya, Lapu-Lapu City.

The fatality in the latest anti-narcotics operation was identified by police as Junjun Sollano, 38, a resident of Sitio Balanghoy, Barangay Gun-ob.

Senior Insp. Wilbert Parilla, chief of Gun-ob Police Station, said Sollano drew a .38 revolver and shot the police officer who acted as buyer.

The police officer was shot in the stomach but the bullet-proof vest protected him.

Police officers who were hiding came forward and fired at Sollano who tried to escape. He died on the spot from a gunshot wound on his head.

Police recovered the revolver and four empty shells.

Arrested were Ruel Rison, 31, Antero Cañete, 38, Junel Cabanes, 34, Alexander Cantillep, 45, and Randy Hilot, 30. Another suspect escaped.

They allegedy carried 79 sachets of suspected shabu. A 9mm pistol was also recovered from Rison, police said.

Parilla said they conducted the operation after monitoring the group’s illegal activities for two weeks.

In last Tuesday night’s operation, suspect Rolando Matidios, a resident of Bua-

ya, sustained a gunshot wound on his right leg after he was shot for aiming a .38 pistol at the police decoy, said SPO2 Roberto Pepito of the Lapu-Lapu City Police Office.

Police conducted the buy-bust past 11 p.m. last Tuesday after weeks of monitoring Matidios’s alleged il- legal activities.

Pepito said they confiscated seven small sachets of suspected shabu and some drug paraphernalia from Matidios.

Also recovered were the .38 pistol the suspect allegedly aimed at the police officer who acted as drugs buyer and some ammunition.

According to police, Matidios pulled out the firearm from his waist after noticing that it was a buybust. The police decoy shot him in the leg.

Matidios was taken to the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center in Cebu City.

Mayor Paz Radaza said she terminated Matidios’s employment upon learning about the buy-bust.

Matidios was detailed in the Buaya Barangay Hall.

Detained at the LapuLapu City Holding Cell, he will be charged with violation of Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 and illegal possession of firearms.