TWO suspected drug pushers were killed in a shootout with police inside a drug den in Barangay Poblacion, Danao City at 10:03 a.m. yesterday.
Hours before the incident, three suspected drug peddlers in three barangays in the city were killed by unknown assailants.
From July 1 until 6 a.m. yesterday, records at the Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 showed 116 suspected drug pushers were killed during legitimate police operations in Central Visayas, while 138 were executed by unidentified gunmen.
Chief Supt. Noli Taliño, the PRO 7 director, said he believes that most of the drug dealers who were gunned down by unidentified assailants belonged to a drug group.
“They are having their own internal cleansing,” he said.
In the Poblacion operation, Danao City Police Chief Alejandro Batobalonos identified the casualties as Raymund Empormado and Richard Lucenio.
On the watch list
Six suspected junkies were also caught in the act sniffing shabu during the operation.
They were identified as Dexter Loygos, 22; Joseph Mojado, 39; Leonor Briones, 34; Guillermo Abarquez, 18; Aljon Zamora, 19; and Anthony Batulan, 41.
At 2:40 a.m., suspected drug pusher Herminio Lavador Juntilla, 43, was shot by two unidentified men in Barangay Guinacot.
Twenty minutes later, another suspected seller of shabu was shot by two unknown assassins in Barangay Looc.
A sign with a message, “Pusher ako, sige pamo,” was attached on the body of Bryan Capungan Cuervo, 22.
In Barangay Guinsay, an unidentified man was ambushed at 6:20 a.m. The incident could be related to drugs.
Batobalonos said Juntilla and Capungan were on the police watch list of drug personalities. Both men succumbed to multiple gunshot wounds.
Batobalonos said they have yet to identify the perpetrators.
At 12:30 p.m. yesterday. police arrested six college students, who were allegedly drying marijuana leaves inside a cemetery in Ubay, Bohol.
A complaint for violating Republic Act 9165, or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, will be filed against the junkies in Danao City and the students in Bohol.