By Mark L. Garcia Bacolod City—A man identified as the leader of a drug trafficking group and his relative were killed, while four others, including a police officer, were wounded in a 15-hour shootout in the city’s northernmost barangay Thursday afternoon. Police said Ramy Poja, 36, was one of the big drug lords in Bacolod and Western Visayas. Long wanted for running drugs and guns, Poja had managed to elude arrest at least thrice by tossing grenades at pursuing law enforcers. Also killed was Poja’s relative, Roberto Lim, said to be a high-value target. Wounded during the shootout were Rusty Poja Constantino, Senior Insp. Victor Paulino, Jhodan Cordova, 20, and his mother Erlinda. The police also arrested Claudine Bindol, 33, Poja’s alleged girlfriend, and Cyril Jarina for obstruction of justice. They were at the house owned by Salvador Poja in Barangay Banago where the police had cornered Ramy Poja. Several high-caliber guns and about P840,000 worth of shabu were recovered by the officers. The police team, led by Paulino, was actually on an anti-illegal gambling sweep when it chanced on Poja’s group. A bullet hit Paulino in the left thigh. He was treated at the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital together with the other wounded. People in Banago who knew Poja described him as being generous and kind. “Ramy is a good person and will not hesitate to always extend help to the needy and the poor like us,” said a 71-year-old neighbor of Poja’s, who requested that her name be withheld. Sr. Supt. Francisco Ebreo, Bacolod police officer-in-charge, said the police team was composed of officers from the City Drug Enforcement Unit, Station 3, and SWAT unit. “When the operating team established the exact location, we tried to negotiate for the surrender of the suspects, but instead of surrendering they shot it out with the operating team,” Ebreo said in a press conference after the operation.