Landmark in Koronadal City.
KORONADAL CITY (MindaNews / 18 Nov) – Two suspected drug dealers came out alive in a car chase Thursday afternoon here with law enforcers who, instead of shooting at the subjects, fired at the tires of their Toyota Fortuner sports utility vehicle (SUV) to prevent them from fleeing.
Michael Jake de Jesus, 36, a businessman, and Jheffry Tulabot, 36, jobless, were caught following a buy-bust operation at a gasoline station near the public terminal at Crossing Diaz, Barangay Zone 3 here.
An undercover agent bought a sachet of shabu weighing one gram worth P4,000 from the suspects. Tulabot reportedly had been involved in a previous illegal drug case.
Col Nathaniel Villegas, South Cotabato police director, said one of the suspects pointed a gun at the undercover agents after sensing it was an entrapment operation, and sped off to escape arrest.
The anti-drug operatives gave chase, firing at the tires of the sports utility vehicle that got caught after a stretch of about two kilometers.
All four tires of the SUV were flattened by bullet shots when the suspects were caught along the national highway near the city hall complex.
The gun seized from the possession of the suspects was later found out to be a 9mm pistol replica, Villegas said.
Authorities recovered seven grams of suspected shabu worth P49,000 from the suspects.
Some netizens hailed the operating team, which is composed of the city police’s drug unit, intelligence operatives from the Regional Police Office-12 and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-12, for catching the suspects alive.
“Grabe amo naya sa tire tirahon (It’s good they fired at the tires),” Facebook user Elson Gilza commented.
Others, however, were lusting for blood.
“They should have been killed. They’re scums of society,” a Facebook user said in the vernacular.
Villegas said the suspects, who have been detained at the city police station, would be facing charges for violation of Republic Act (RA) 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act and RA 10591 or the Comprehensive Law on Illegal Possession of Firearms.
During the previous Duterte administration, drug suspects who allegedly “nanlaban” (shot it out) usually ended up dead during anti-drug police operations.
Former President Rodrigo Duterte waged an all-out-war on drugs during his term from June 30, 2016 to June 30, 2022.
In the first three years of the Duterte administration, around 6,600 drug suspects were killed in alleged shootouts with the police, data released by the Philippine National Police in June 2019 showed. (Bong S. Sarmiento / MindaNews)
