Arrested ‘hitmen’ killed in alleged ambush on cops

MANILA, Philippines — Two suspected contract killers were gunned down in a purported ambush on a police vehicle transporting them back to their detention cells in Manila yesterday afternoon.

Apolonio Flores and Prince Patrick Cortez, accompanied by Police Officer 2 Mark Delima and another policeman, were in a vehicle at the corner of Lacson and Fajardo streets at around 4:30 p.m. when at least eight men on four motorcycles attacked, according to Chief Inspector Edwin Fuggan, Lacson police community precinct commander.

The assailants disarmed the two policemen then shot Flores and Cortez repeatedly before fleeing, Fuggan said.

The attacker left the police officers unharmed but the police vehicle’s windows were shattered, he added, noting that the incident was recorded by a closed-circuit television camera in the area.

“The attackers were obviously members of the gun-for-hire group to which the suspects belong and we suspect that the ambush was aimed to ensure that they will not live to tell the police about their illegal activities,” Fuggan told The STAR.

Flores and Cortez were arrested on Monday and charged with illegal possession of firearms, ammunition and explosives in relation to the Omnibus Election Code.

Text messages between Flores and Cortez indicated that a person was set to be killed in Marbella Subdivision in Caloocan, Fuggan said.

Flores, released from prison last December, told police he belongs to a group of guns for hire operating in Manila, Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas and Valenzuela under a drug lord he identified as Brix Vibar.

Flores said most of their targets are drug pushers and couriers who fail to remit proceeds but they are also tasked to kill others for P20,000 per hit, with Cortez serving as a conduit.

Cortez was arrested in another operation along Malaya street in Tondo. Police seized a fragmentation grenade, three cell phones he reportedly used to communicate with contract killers and a car from the suspect.