A SUSPECTED drug trafficker was wounded in a shootout with undercover officers in San Miguel, Bulacan on Wednesday afternoon shortly after he sold an estimated P1.360 million worth of shabu to a poseur, Bulacan Police Provincial Office director, Colonel Lawrence B. Cajipe said.
Suspect Gilbert Catiis was taken to a local hospital for treatment shortly after the brief firefight which marred the conduct of the buy-bust operation in Bgy. Bulualto, San Miguel around 4:15 p.m. Wednesday, said the Bulacan police director in a report to Police Regional Office 3 director, Brigadier General Rhodel O. Sermonia.
Cajipe said the arrested suspect is included in the unified watch list of the Philippine National Police and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency and has long been the target of a police operation for his involvement in big-time drug trafficking activities in the province.
The official said that on Wednesday afternoon, undercover agents of the San Miguel Municipal Police Station headed by Lieutenant Col. Voltaire C. Rivera conducted the sting in which a poseur managed to buy 200 grams of the so-called ‘poor man’s cocaine’ from the suspect.
However, Cajipe said the suspect apparently sensed the ongoing sting and tried to shoot the poseur prompting a back-up operative to fire at him in self-defense.
The suspect was immediately subdued and taken to the hospital for treatment.
Recovered from his possession were two big plastic packets containing the so-called ‘poor man’s cocaine’ worth PP1,360,000, a chamber-loaded caliber .45 pistol with a magazine contaiing several live ammunition and the marked money he received from the agent.
A motorcycle being driven by the suspect also yielded a digital weighing scale.
Cajipe said that the suspect will be facing non-bailable charges for sale and possession of prohibited drugs under Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, violation of RA 10591 or the Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition Regulations Act of 2013 and assault upon an agent of a person in authority.
