CEBU CITY – Two suspected drug pushers were killed in an alleged shootout with the police on Thursday night at South Road Properties in Barangay Mambaling here.
Kerlou Pojas, 22, a resident of Barangay Pusok, Lapu-Lapu City, and a certain Ryan succumbed to multiple gunshot wounds in the body.
After the shootout, police recovered 4.5 kilos of suspected shabu from the suspects’ vehicle, said Police Col. Regino Maramag, chief of the Police Drug Enforcement Group-Central Visayas.
Aside from packs of suspected shabu which were estimated to cost P30.6 million, a KG9 submachine pistol and a .45 caliber pistol were also recovered from the vehicle.
Maramag said it took them a month of monitoring before they were able to finalize a transaction with the suspects.
Maramag said that the two suspects agreed to sell a kilo of shabu to a poseur-buyer but the two men fought back when they noticed that they were dealing with a law enforcer.
No one from the side of the police was hurt during the exchange of gunfire.
Maramag said they received reports that the two men were cohorts of the two other drug suspects who were killed in last month’s shootout with the police at the Transcentral Highway.
Police Brig. Gen. Ronnie Montejo, chief of the Police Regional Office-Central Visayas, said the two suspects were part of a group known as Bilibid 19 at the New Bilibid Prison.
Montejo said the suspects shipped illegal drugs to Cebu through a passenger vessel from Manila.
“It could be that the shipment was not properly examined that’s why the contraband was not detected,” said Montejo.
Montejo added that two men were also suspected to be hitmen of a crime group.
“We will conduct a deeper investigation to establish the links of these two men,” said Montejo.