ILOILO City – Two senior high school students were wounded in an antidrug buy-bust operation of the police in Barangay Tabucan, Mandurriao district. They were arrested.
Jessieje Fama, 18, of Barangay Sambag, Jaro district and Daniel Balmes, 18, of Zarraga, Iloilo face charges for violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.
The buy-bust was staged around 1:55 a.m. yesterday, according to Senior Inspector Kennith Bermejo, chief of the Police Regional Office 6’s (PRO-6) Regional Drug Enforcement Unit (RDEU).
Fama, while seated on the driver’s seat of a black Hyundai Starex van, sold a sachet of marijuana to an undercover police officer for P1,200, said Bermejo.
The suspect fired a gun when policemen moved to arrest him but missed the cops.
Policemen fired back, hitting Fama in the back and companion Balmes on the face.
Despite his wound, however, Fama still managed to drive the van away.
He and Balmes proceeded to the Iloilo Doctors’ Hospital where policemen eventually arrested them.
The police recovered another pack of marijuana and a .45 pistol from Fama, said Bermejo.
Balmes, on the other hand, yielded a .38 revolver.
Both Fama and Balmes were senior high school students of Saint Paul University.
Bermejo said the RDEU received information that the suspects started peddling marijuana two months ago.
As of this writing, the two teenagers were still at the Iloilo Doctors’ Hospital but being tightly guarded by policemen./PN
