CABANATUAN CITY — Two alleged high-value targets (HVTs) in the Cordillera region were killed in an armed encounter after trading shots with anti-narcotics operatives during a drug sting in San Jose City on early Sunday morning.
Provincial police director Col. Marvin Joe C. Saro also said an anti-narcotics operative was wounded in the ensuing gunbattle. The lawman, who was hit in the left shoulder, was rushed to the Heart Of Jesus Hospital for treatment.
Saro identified the slain suspects as Bryan Leonile Dris, 33, alias Drizz, of Loakan, and Hymer Leung, 34, of Irisan, both of Baguio City.
A third suspect, whose identity remained unavailable as of press time yesterday, eluded arrest.
Saro said Dris was listed as the 3rd most HVTs in the Police Regional Office-Cordillera while Leung was also described as a HVT operating in Baguio City.
San Jose City police head Lt. Col. Criselda Y. De Guzman said the armed encounter occurred in the boundary of Bgys. Rafael Rueda Sr. and Bgy. Sto. Nino 1st near the city public market at 1:45 a.m.
The armed encounter left two of the suspects dead, with one of them still seated in the driver’s seat of a white Honda City sedan and the other one lying dead beside the car in front of Malou’s Uling Store.
Stall owners at the crime scene were prevented from opening their stores until 6:30 a.m. as Scene of the Crime Operatives cordoned off the area for an ocular investigation.
De Guzman said the suspects turned hostile after consummating the drug deal and fired at the undercover operatives triggering a firefight. The two suspects were killed while a lawman was hit in the left shoulder and rushed to the Heart of Jesus Hospital for treatment.
Recovered during the operation were an improvised Cal. 38 revolver, a Cal. 22 pistol (improvised) without serial number, 15 fired bullets of Cal. 9mm pistol, a plastic sachet containing alleged shabu, and the suspects’ white Honda City with license plate- AAS-9301.
