On-site inventory of the seized shabu worth P3.4-billion. Contributed photo
IBA, Zambales — Four fully-armed Chinese drug suspects were neutralized by authorities in a buy-bust operation that turned into an armed encounter in Candelaria town Tuesday.
Police said past at 12 in the afternoon, joint operatives of the Philippine National Police and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency conducted the buy-bust on at Noah’s Place, Barangay Libertador, Candelaria against the Chinese suspects.
A firefight ensued when the suspects fired at the operatives prompting them to return fire resulting to the “instantaneous death” of the suspects.
Police identified the fatalities as Gao Manzhu, 49 years old, Hong Jianshe, 58 years old and Eddie Tan, 60 years old, all from Fujian, China; and Youhua Xu, 50, from Stanford Ville, Quezon City.
Recovered from the suspects were 25 blue sacks each containing 20 aluminum packs of shabu with estimated weight of 500 kilograms, estimated to be worth P3.4 billion; six P1,000 bills that formed part of the buy-bust money on top of the boodle money; four firearms of different calibers; one black Nissan van with Plate No. NCU 8580; and one black Toyota Fortuner with Plate No. WIE 956.
Police said the suspects were distributors of illegal drugs in Luzon particularly, in the National Capital Region, Central Luzon, and Calabarzon regions.
PNP chief Gen. Guillermo Lorenzo T. Eleazar who arrived at the crime scene commended the operatives and cited their accomplishment as the result of adherence to PDEA-PNP Unified Operational Guidelines to strengthen the relationship of PDEA and PNP in coordination with other law enforcement agencies in the fight against the proliferation of illegal drugs in the country.
