MANDAUE CITY – An operation against three alleged members of a big-time drug syndicate group came to a bloody end after the three suspects shot it out with the police last Tuesday afternoon.
Two of the suspects died on the spot, while the other cohort was taken to the Mandaue City Hospital but died along the way.
A staggering P78.2-million worth of suspected shabu was found in the van-type multicab that the suspects used in meeting the poseur-buyer.
One of the fatalities was identified as Prince Gem Malapo, a resident of Barangay Labangon, Cebu City. The two other fatalities have yet to be identified.
Police Col. Jonathan Abella, chief of the Mandaue City Police Office, said it took a month of surveillance before the buy-bust operation materialized.
“According to the intelligence monitoring, they were part of a big-time syndicate responsible for the distribution of illegal drugs in Metro Cebu,” said Abella.
The operation was conducted by operatives of the City Intelligence Branch (CIB).
Police said the three men agreed to meet the supposed buyer on Zuellig Street in Barangay Subangdaku, Mandaue.
Police said it was the three men who fired the first shots when they noticed that they were transacting with undercover policemen.
Other policemen, who were near the area observing the transaction, fired back at the three men and hit them in the head and other parts of their bodies.
Upon checking the vehicle boarded by the suspects, police found 11 big packs wrapped with a masking tape containing white crystalline substance believed to be shabu.
Another three small packs and 12 sachets of shabu were also recovered.
The seized shabu weighed 11.5 kilos, police said.
Also found in the vehicle were a bundle of cash, one .45 caliber pistol, one KG9 submachine gun and a .38 caliber revolver.
Mapalo’s sister, who asked not to be named, rushed to the area upon learning the incident.
She said that they were not aware that her brother was involved in illegal activity.
“What we knew was that he was working as a delivery boy of poultry products,” the sister said. (Calvin Cordova)
