Drug war: 4 more killed in Metro Manila

MANILA, Philippines – Four persons believed to be involved in illegal drugs were killed in separate police operations in various parts of Metro Manila since Tuesday night.

An unidentified drug suspect was shot dead in an alleged encounter with police in Barangay Tatalon, Quezon City at around 7:30 p.m.

Members of the Quezon City Police District (QCPD) Station 11’s anti-illegal drug unit were conducting operation in the area when they noticed the suspect with a gun tucked in his waist.

The suspect tried to escape, prompting police to give chase. When cornered, the suspect allegedly shot the police officers who returned fire, killing him on the spot.

The suspect died from four gunshot wounds, police said.

Police said they recovered a caliber .45 pistol, six sachets of shabu and drug paraphernalia from the suspect.

Another drug personality identified only as “Machete” was killed in a sting in Barangay Batasan Hills just before 7 p.m.

The suspect allegedly pulled out his handgun and shot a police officer who posed as a buyer of shabu.

Machete is No. 34 in the drug watchlist of the Batasan police station.

He was taken to the East Avenue Medical Center where he was declared dead on arrival.

Police said they recovered from the suspect 14 packets of shabu and P300 in marked money.

In Manila, police shot dead suspected drug pusher Aaron Paular in a sting in Sta. Mesa shortly after midnight yesterday.

Police probers said Paular drew his caliber .38 revolver when he sensed the presence of anti-narcotics operatives, prompting police to shoot him.

Paular allegedly yielded five sachets of shabu, P400 in marked money and a hand grenade.

In Caloocan City, two gunmen on two motorcycles gunned down suspected drug user Jemar Antifuesto, 30, in front of Rosary Hills School along NPC Road on Tuesday night.

Police said Antifuesto surrendered to barangay officials last month but returned to using drugs.

3 drug suspects fall

In Las Piñas, police arrested three suspected drug pushers in separate operations as part of the continuing war on drugs.

Nabbed were Bernardo Hernandez, John Laurente Regalado and Jayson Regalado, according to city police chief Senior Superintendent Jemar Modequillo.

Hernandez allegedly yielded sachets of shabu after police searched his house in Barangay Almanza 1. The Regalados were apprehended at a police checkpoint.

The suspects are being held at the Las Piñas police detention cell on drug charges.

‘Fake shabu’

Police reportedly found “fake shabu” in the office of slain Senior Inspector Ramon Castillo at the QCPD headquarters at Camp Karingal.

A plastic zip-lock bag containing white crystalline substance and weighing 29.6 grams of shabu was found in Castillo’s former office.

Police said they also recovered a weighing scale, which had traces of methamphetamine hydrochloride.

Castillo, one of the team leaders of the District Anti-Illegal Drug Division, was killed in a sting where police recovered some 200 grams of shabu with an  estimated street value of P1 million last week.

4 soldiers positive for drugs

Meanwhile, four Army personnel are facing dismissal from service after they tested positive for drug use.

Army spokesman Col. Benjamin Hao said the four were among the 2,500 officers and enlisted personnel who underwent random drug tests at the Army headquarters at Fort Bonifacio in Taguig last month.

They were among the 13 officers and men who were brought to a medical facility in Quezon City for confirmatory drug testing, according to Hao.

He declined to name the four soldiers – a staff sergeant and three corporals. – With Ghio Ong, Perseus Echeminada, Jaime Laude