Malaysian, Pinoy drug dealers killed in Tawi-tawi shootout
PHILIPPINE National Police Drug Enforcement Group (PNP-DEG) director, Brigadier General Remus B. Medina on Sunday announced the killing of two armed big-time drug traffickers, one of them a Malaysian national during a shootout in Bongao, Tawi-Tawi which marred the conduct of a buy-bust operation.
In a report to PNP chief, General Guillermo Lorenzo T. Eleazar, the official identified the slain suspects as Hari Man Bin Sabdula, a Malaysian national residing in Kuna, Sabah, Malaysia and Nadzmil Ladja, a resident of Barangay Sipangkot in Sitangkai, Tawi-Tawi.
Medina said the two pulled out their concealed weapons and opened fire at the operating team, prompting the lawmen to retaliate killing both on the spot. The shootout took place along the shorelines of Bgy. Pahut in Bongao, Tawi-Tawi 9:45 a.m. Saturday.
Recovered from the possession of the slain suspects were some 1.5 kilos of shabu worth P10.2 million, 16 bundles of boodle money topped by a marked P1,000 bill, a plastic packet containing about five grams of dried marijuana leaves and two chamber-loaded caliber .45 semi-automatic pistols with several live ammunition.
Medina said that also found aboard the suspect’s motorized banca locally known as ‘Tiririt’ were the suspects’ identification cards and a Samsung keypad.
The records of the pistols with serial numbers 888783 and 03604 are still being checked by DEG investigators with the PNP Firearms and Explosives Office.
Medina said the recovered pieces of evidence were brought to the Regional Crime Laboratory Office 9 in Zamboanga City for forensic examination.
The bodies of the slain suspects were examined by SOCO investigators prior to their turnover to their relatives for immediate burial in accordance with Muslim rites, the official said.
Members of the PNP-DEG Special Operations Unit 9 spearheaded the operation with the help of officers form the Bongao Municipal Police Station, the Tawi-Tawi Police Provincial Office, the Philippine army, the Regional Intelligence Unit 9, the Tawi-Tawi Criminal Investigation and Detection Group and the local Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency.
