Terror group member slain in SoCot drug bust

From the Philippine News Agency (Feb 9, 2021): Terror group member slain in SoCot drug bust (By Richelyn Gubalani)

Map of Polomolok, South Cotabato (Google image)

An alleged member of an Islamic State-inspired local terrorist group was killed in a buy-bust in a village in Polomolok town, South Cotabato province on Tuesday morning.

Capt. Randy Apostol, deputy chief of Polomolok municipal police, said suspect Jafar Ewa was slain after resisting arrest and engaging operatives in a shootout during an entrapment around 10:55 a.m. in the vicinity of Purok 1, Barangay Koronadal Proper.

He said Ewa, of Purok 4-A of the same village, initially sold a sachet of suspected shabu worth PHP500 to an undercover police officer.

As other members of the operating team approached to make the arrest, he said the suspect took a handgun from the utility box of his tricycle and opened fire at them.

Apostol said the suspect was fatally wounded during the brief firefight and was declared dead upon arrival at the Polomolok municipal hospital.

The official said Ewa, who worked as a tricycle driver, was a known drug pusher and included on the police station’s target list.

Citing intelligence reports, he said the suspect was reportedly a member of a local cell of the Dawlah Islamiya-Hassan Group.

“He served as a spotter for the group and assigned to monitor the movements of police and military personnel,” he told reporters.

Recovered from the suspect were a single-shot homemade pistol, a sachet of suspected shabu and PHP500 marked bill.

Meanwhile, authorities also arrested a couple employed as job order workers of the city government in a buy-bust on Monday night.

Kath Abad, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA)-Region 12 spokesperson, said Mark and Analyn Tesaluna, both of Villa Consuelo Subdivision in Barangay City Heights, were nabbed around 8:30 p.m. in Barangay Dadiangas East after selling a sachet of suspected shabu to a PDEA agent who posed as a buyer.

In a subsequent search, she said the couple yielded two more sachets of suspected shabu weighing 0.03 grams with an estimated street value of PHP2,040.

Abad said the two were both assigned as laboratory aides, under job order status, at the City Agriculture Office.

“They are considered as high-value targets, being government workers,” she told reporters.

The couple, who are detained at the PDEA-12 lockup here, will be charged with violation of Sections 5 and 11 or selling and possession of dangerous drugs, under Article II of Republic Act 9165 or the Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1130137