Anti-narcotics operatives of the Philippine National Police (PNP) killed two suspected big-time drug pushers and confiscated more than P200 million worth of shabu in a buy-bust that led to an alleged shootout in Las Piñas City on Tuesday night, April 13.
PNP chief Gen. Debold Sinas said the slain suspects were known distributors of illegal drugs in Metro Manila and two nearby regions and were connected to some illegal drugs syndicates operating in the country.
“Their source of illegal drugs came from a certain Chinese National from the country of Myanmar and being discreetly transported to a warehouse somewhere in Pampanga,” said Sinas.
He identified the slain suspects as Coco Amarga and Andrew Garcia.
Sinas said the operation started after a poseur buyer from the PNP Drug Enforcement Group was able to convince the suspects to sell a kilo of shabu. The buy-bust was then carried out in Barangay Pamplona 3 in Las Piñas City at around 10 p.m.
Amarga was able to sell a kilo of shabu but he and his companion allegedly engaged the policemen in a shootout when their arrest was announced. They died on the spot.
Aside from a kilo of shabu during the buy-bust, Sinas said 30 more packs, ech containing a kilo of shabu, were seized from the slain suspects. The confiscated shabu has a street value of P210 million.
Also seized were two handguns.
“Based on our report and discussions with the PDEG these are most likely new players who need money, that’s the reason why they continue to distribute illegal drugs,” said Sinas.
The buy-bust site, however, was in a dimly-lit portion of a road in Las Piñas City.
But Sinas said PDEG operatives themselves were surprised that it was the area chosen by the slain suspects for a drug transaction. This is the reason according to him, why PDEG operatives were alert during the entire transaction.