TALAVERA, Nueva Ecija –– A suspected peddler of illegal drugs was killed in a buy-bust operation in Barangay Homestead 2 here before dawn of Tuesday, July 14.
Lt. Col. Alexie Desamito, municipal police chief, identified the suspect as Ryan Ibarra, 36, resident of Barangay Mataas Na Kahoy, Gen. Mamerto Natividad, Nueva Ecija.
Desamito said the buy–bust operation was hatched, using a dusted P1,000 bill, by the local police’s drug enforcement team in coordination with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency.
The operatives, she said, managed to buy one sachet of suspected shabu from the suspect.
The suspect, however, “initiated a firefight” that “prompted them (policemen) to return fire and defend themselves” resulting to the former’s death.
Scene of the crime investigators recovered from the suspect one .38 revolver, the P1,000 buy bust money, still undetermined volume of suspected shabu and a single motorcycle.
