ILOILO City – Two drug pushing suspects put up a fight during a buy-bust operation and so policemen shot them, according to the police station of Hamtic, Antique.
The suspects died while being rushed to the Angel Salazar Memorial Hospital in San Jose, Antique. They were Julius Caesar Bullecer of Quezon City and Joel Urbano, 45, of Belison, Antique.
The buy-bust operation was carried out on Saturday in Barangay Quintas, Hamtic, Antique, said Senior Inspector Adolfo Pagharion, municipal police chief.
Bullecer and Urbano were newly identified drug personalities operating in Antique, said Pagharion.
Prior to Saturday’s buy-bust, the two were subjected to surveillance.
The Hamtic police learned that the suspects brought with them from Metro Manila a huge volume of shabu. A buy-bust operation was immediately planned, said Pagharion.
On Saturday, an “asset” of the Hamtic police station bought from Bullecer a sachet of shabu.
When cops were about to arrest him, Bullecer fired at them, said Pagharion.
Urbano, meanwhile, sought cover while firing at the cops, too, he added.
Policemen returned fire.
Recovered from the crime scene were a .45 pistol, a .38 revolver and 14 sachets of shabu.
“We have no plan to kill them but they were armed,” said Pagsharion./PN