BAGUIO CITY – Two Suspected drug users were arrested while another was reportedly wounded during a brief shootout in an anti-illegal drug operation launched by combined police operatives and anti-narcotics agents in the vicinity of a lodge along Asin Road here around 1 am Sunday.
Senior Superintendent Rolando F. Miranda, officer-in-charge of the Baguio City Police Office (BCPO), identified the wounded suspected drug user as Norman Nares, a native of Nueva Ecija while his arrested colleagues were named as Akiya Velasco, 18 and Charlie Andawi, 22, a resident of Buyagan, Poblacion, La Trinidad, Benguet.
Initial police investigation showed elements of the City Andi-Illegal Drug Special Operations Task Group and agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency were conducting anti-illegal drug operations within the area when they happened to chance upon the alleged drug users reportedly ding a pot session within a lodge in the area.
Upon Noticing the presence of law enforcers within their midst, the suspected drug users allegedly fired at them that subsequently resulted in the occurrence of a brief shootout causingthe injuries to Nares and the eventual arrest of his two companions.
Confiscated from their possession were totters, one plastic sachet containing two grams of suspected shabu with a market value of P10,000, two motorcycles, scissors, weighing scale and a caliber .380 revolver.
The wounded drug user was reportedly brought to the Baguio general Hospital and Medical Center (BGHMC) for medical treatment of his gunshot wounds while the two arrested suspects were brought to the PNP crime laboratory in Camp Dangwa, La Trinidad, Benguet for the conduct of drug test among other assessments in preparation for the filing of the appropriate charges against them.
By Dexter A. See