A POLICE official, who allegedly protected a slain drug lord, was killed in a drug bust on Sunday, June 10 in Mandaue City, Cebu.
The fatality was identified as Senior Inspector Raymond G. Hortezuela, who was assigned in Negros Oriental Provincial Police Office.
The operatives shot him after he reportedly resisted arrest and attempted to shoot at them.
Combined personnel from the Counter-Intelligence Task Force (CITF)-Visayas, Mandaue City Police Office-Drug Enforcement Unit and Regional Intelligence Division-Central Visayas carried out the operation.
Scene of the Crime Operatives found seven empty shells of .45 pistol in the area of the operation.
Hortezuela, a former deputy chief of Guadalupe Police Station in Cebu City, was reportedly the protector of Central Visayas drug lord Jeffrey "Jaguar" Diaz, who was killed in a police operation in Las Piñas City in 2016.
He had been listed in the narco-list of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-Central Visayas.
The incident happened past 7 p.m. near the fire station in Tipolo, Mandaue City.
The operatives found inside Hortezuela's car (ZEJ-663) a transparent plastic containing 75 small triangular sachets containing white crystalline substance believed to be shabu, a Colt .45 pistol with magazine loaded with bullets, two bills of P1,000.
A sling bag on the passenger seat containing P68,830, two cell phones, two Philippine National Police identification (ID) cards and other IDs, Automated Teller Machine (ATM) cards, a wristwatch, pictures, four money transfer receipts, and a Gloc .9mm pistol with magazine loaded with 15 bullets, were found.
On the backseat, police found two bags containing clothes, laptop bag containing personal documents, traveling bag containing clothes, component speaker with complete accessories and a pair of shoes.
The final search yielded five bullets of .45 pistol that were found on the vehicle's arm rest.