Police to pushers: Surrender or get killed by Kuratong

ARE high-level members of drug syndicates out to get each other? Police have reason to believe so.

The Encila sisters may have had vast knowledge of the illegal transactions of the Kuratong Baleleng Gang in Cebu Province, according to a police official.

Mandaue City Police Office (MCPO) Director Julian Entoma theorized that members of the gang that originated from Ozamis City carried out the Wednesday night murder of Janelyn, the sister of Jocelyn, who was caught in a drug bust on Sunday, March 3.

He said the group’s hitmen had started killing associates they no longer trust.

Entoma has the same theory about the killing of party drug dealers in Cebu. He believed that a drug syndicate masterminded the murder of alleged party drug dealer Neil Benjamin Eugenio Yap on Wednesday, March 6.

In a text message sent to Superbalita Cebu on Thursday, March 7, Entoma related that he urged relatives of the Encila sisters to cooperate in the investigation.

“I’m calling all those who are linked with this drug group to surrender to authorities as they will be liquidated by the Ozamis group as the Encila family has broad knowledge of the drug syndicate of the Ozamis group so they must be silenced by their hitmen,” Entoma said.

“It is better to be behind bars than outside as the Ozamis group manifested that they can kill their members if they are already a threat to their drug syndicate,” he added.

Lugo, Borbon barangay captain Jinnefer Mercader is being pursued by the police after escaping from jail in Medellin Tuesday. Mercader, who is facing an illegal possession of firearms case, reportedly had a link to the Kuratong.

Entoma said Janelyn was possibly shot dead after the Kuratong deemed her useless after the arrest of Jocelyn and their parents.

On Wednesday night, March 6, a gunman shot Janelyn in Sitio Caimito in Barangay Labogon, Mandaue City.

Investigation showed that Jocelyn was the alleged contact of the drug players who often fetched kilos of shabu from her.

The supplies of shabu were reportedly stocked in her house in a subdivision in Barangay Casili, Consolacion.

Victim’s role

Janelyn’s alleged role was to collect and deposit the payments in the account of alleged drug lord Rustico Ygot, an inmate of the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City.

Entoma said they received reports that Ygot made an alliance with Kuratong members to strengthen their drug trafficking business in Cebu.

The Kuratong is reportedly active in Mandaue City, Consolacion and Liloan after the group was dismantled by the police in Talisay City.

Janelyn reportedly sought the help of a radio station after a “police officer” scoured her house on Monday, March 4.

Entoma said the man who barged inside Janelyn’s house may have been a Kuratong member looking for packs of shabu.

As to the investigation on Janelyn’s murder, Police Major Ramil Morpos said they got the statement of Jocelyn’s 13-year-old daughter, who was with the victim inside the taxi before she was shot.

The girl told the police that they locked the car doors.

When the taxi arrived in Caimito, Janelyn and Jocelyn’s child did not disembark. They waited for Janelyn’s lesbian lover who went inside the house to get money for the fare.

The gunman then approached the vehicle and tried to open the door on the backseat.

The girl, who thought the man was Janelyn’s friend, unlocked the door. The assassin then grabbed Janelyn and dragged her out of the taxi.

Janelyn pleaded for her life but the gunman shot her several times.

Police obtained the taxi driver’s statement and the dash cam.

Before the shooting happened, Morpos said Janelyn came from Jocelyn’s house in Casili where she fetched some items. Afterwards, Janelyn and Jocelyn’s daughter went to the Consolacion Police Station where her sister and parents were detained.

“The victim already sensed that men on a motorcycle were tailing them, so I asked her lover why they did not go straight to a police station after noticing the person,” he said.

Jocelyn’s daughter was brought to the City Social Services for stress debriefing after she was traumatized by her aunt’s murder.

As for the ambush of Yap, Entoma said he was possibly silenced by his group for fear that he would give information about the party drug trade to the police.

The victim and his alleged cohort Roderick Ngo Go were caught in a drug bust by the Regional Special Operations Group in January last year. Both yielded ecstasy tablets.

Yap had been included in the Police Regional Office 7’s matrix of personalities involved in the distribution of party drugs in Cebu.

Entoma told his investigators to interview Yap’s family to check if the victim had enemies in the past.

“If he didn’t have enemies, it’s possible the mastermind is somebody from his group who wants to silence him before he reveals what he knows about the drug business. It can also be wealthy customers who fear their names will be leaked,” he said.

Centro Police Station investigators learned that Yap was able to post P250,000 bail for his drug case on May 23, 2018 after the court granted his petition to bail.

Police Major Aldrin Villacampa said they received information that Yap returned to selling ecstasy and expanded to shabu distribution, but investigators still have to validate these reports. (KAL)