TWO alleged notorious drug dealers were killed while a policeman was injured in a shootout in the province of Tawi-Tawi, the police said Saturday, July 6, 2024.
The Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region (PRO-BAR) said the shootout happened around 8:50 p.m. Thursday, July 4, at the public market of Bongao town situated in Poblacion village.
The police said the shootout broke out after the drug suspects opened fire when they noticed the arriving policemen at the public market.
The PRO-BAR said the policemen were verifying the report of a concerned citizen that an illegal drug trade was happening at the Bongao public market when the shootout broke out.
The PRO-BAR identified the wounded policeman as Patrolman Abdulmijir Usman Kali, Jr. of the Regional Mobile Force Company 14-B.
The PRO-BAR identified the two slain drug suspects as alias Jay and alias Nasir.
Kali, Jay and Najir were rushed to the hospital but the two suspects were declared dead on arrival by the attending physician.
The police said recovered at the site of the shootout were some five grams of suspected shabu packed in two heat-sealed transparent plastic sachets worth P34,000, two caliber .45 pistols with ammunition and a cellular phone.
The police said the remains of the two slain suspects were turned over to their families for Muslim burial rites. (SunStar Zamboanga)