BACOLOD CITY – A drug suspect who had just been released from jail was killed following a buy-bust operation Friday morning in the middle of a sugarcane field in Barangay Vista Alegre.
Police identified the suspect as Billy Bantayanon, 34, of Barangay 28.
Maj. Sherlock Gabana, head of Police Station 7, said the operation was around 10:30 a.m.
After sensing that he was transacting with an undercover policeman, Bantayanon pulled out his firearm and tried to escape aboard his motorcycle.
Bantayon was killed in the ensuing shootout.
Authorities recovered from the scene four fired bullets of .45 caliber pistol, and the suspect’s motorcycle.
Also confiscated from his possession were 75 grams of suspected shabu worth P1,125,000, the P10,000 marked money, and P1,986 cash.
Gabana said Bantayanon will be subjected for autopsy to determine the injuries he sustained. No policeman got hurt in the incident.
Gabana said the suspect was a high value target with suspected link to Ricky Serenio, a self-confessed bagman of the Berya drug group here.
Serenio was killed by unidentified assailants in Barangay Pahanocoy over the weekend.
Meanwhile, personnel of Police Station 3 seized about 21 grams of suspected shabu worth P315,000 in a buy-bust in an apartment in Barangay 33 here last Thursday.
Arrested was Donie Caldea, a 25-year-old newly-identified drug personality.
Police recovered from him five sachets of suspected shabu and the P500 marked money. (Glazyl Masculino)