AN ALLEGED supplier was killed while his cohort was arrested in an anti-drug operation that resulted in the recovery of P408,000 worth of illegal drugs and high-powered firearms in Zamboanga City, the police reported Monday, September 12.
Police Colonel Richard Verceles, operations chief of the Area Police Command-Western Mindanao, said the shootout happened in an anti-drug operation around 5:13 p.m. Sunday, September 12, at Sitio Pinya in Bunguiao village.
Verceles said the shootout ensued when the alleged illegal drug supplier, Williama Dionisio, 38, pulled a handgun and opened fire, but missed, upon sensing he was transacting illegal drugs to an undercover policeman.
Verceles said the other members of the police team who were hiding nearby returned fire, hitting Dionisio twice in the chest, causing his instantaneous death.
He said Dionisio's cohort, Vincent Delos Reyes, 35, was unscathed when arrested during the anti-drug operation.
Police Colonel Alexander Lorenzo, Zamboanga City Police Office (ZCPO) director, said that Dionisio was the supplier of illegal drugs in Bunguiao village and neighboring villages in the east coast of this city.
Lorenzo said that Dionisio was also involved in "contract killing," robbery hold-ups, extortion, carnapping, and cattle rustling in the east coast of Zamboanga City.
Recovered from the suspects' hideout were 60 grams of shabu worth P408,000, an M2 Carbine rifle, one KG9 9-millimeter pistol, one caliber .45 pistol and ammunition, a cellular phone, and 79 pieces of P1,000 "boodle money" topped with one genuine P1,000 bill as marked money.
Delos Reyes was detained at the ZCPO headquarters pending the filing of formal charges for violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 against him. (SunStar Zamboanga)