A TOP drug trafficker in Central Visayas was killed in a gunfight with undercover officers in Cordova, Cebu around 1:20 a.m. yesterday, Philippine National Police chief, General Debold M. Sinas said.
Sinas said the gunbattle broke out shortly after the suspect identified as Joven Engalan Silong sold three kilograms of shabu worth P20.4 million to a poseur in Barangay Catarman in Cordova municipality.
The entrapment operation was conducted by operatives from the PNP Drug Enforcement Group’s (PNP-DEG) Special Operations Unit 5, the Cebu Police Provincial Office’s Drug Enforcement Unit and the Cordova Municipal Police Station.
Silong, a resident of Sitio Mahayay 2 in Bgy. Pasil, Cebu City had just sold the drugs to an undercover operative when he apparently sensed he was about to be arrested and put up an armed resistance.
The suspect was hit in the body during the exchange of fire with back-up agents in the area and died while being taken to a nearby hospital.
Sinas said that recovered from the possession of the slain suspect were a chamber-loaded .45 caliber pistol with a magazine containing several live ammunition, a backpack containing the three kilos of the so-called ‘poor man’s cocaine’ valued at P20.4 million, the P500,000 worth of boodle money topped by a marked P1,000 bill and a motorcycle without plate number.
The PNP chief commended the operatives of the Police Regional Office 7 under Brigadier Gen. Ronnie S. Montejo and the PNP-DEG headed by Brig. Gen. Remus B. Medina for their latest accomplishment in the anti-narcotics drive in Central Visayas which he used to head in 2019.
