PO3 MICAHEL SANTINNO Bas Cortes was reportedly organizing a drug group before he was slain in Barangay Pooc, Talisay City last week, according to a top police official.

Chief Supt. Debold Sinas, the Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 director, said they received reports that Cortes was still involved in the illegal drug trade despite his name’s inclusion on President Rodrigo Duterte’s narco-list.

He said some small-time pushers caught in drug busts identified Cortes as their supplier.

Despite this development, the PRO 7 has created a special investigation task group to identify the culprits who may be members of a drug group.

Meanwhile, Cebu Provincial Police Office Director Manuel Abrugena said slain former Lagtang, Talisay City Barangay Captain Marc Ferdinand Bas and Cortes were close relatives.

Bas was killed by unidentified gunmen inside his rented house in Barangay Simala, Sibonga last Oct. 7.

Bas was also included on Duterte’s narco list.

In Cortes’s death, Sinas said a drug group may have had a hand in the ambush-slay last Friday.

Cortes was killed with Dennis Patiluna, 43, and Jose Soroño, 45.

Scavenger Cresenciana Rangos, 50, was also found dead 200 meters from where their vehicle came to a standstill after it was peppered with bullets.

Witnesses said Cortes’s companions were able to retaliate at the riding-in-tandem assailants.

Sinas said Cortes was a level-two drug personality, which means the latter was more focused on distribution.

Investigators, he said, also found out that Cortes often did not report to the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao police office, which was his last assignment. (KAL)