5 dead in Sultan Kudarat anti-narcotics operation

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Five men were killed Tuesday in Lambayong, Sultan Kudarat in a gunfight with policemen out to arrest one of them for an illegal drug case pending in a court.

Brig. Gen. Jamili Macaraeg, director of the Police Regional Office-12, told reporters via Viber Wednesday that the team involved in the operation was to peacefully arrest Adhen Salbo, but he and companions resisted, sparking a gunfight.

Salbo and four others, Razul Luyugan Dalandang, Ivan Kilapan Macmod, Nasrudin Banto Abdilla and Sadam Mamadtud Abdul, were killed in the shootout.

Macaraeg said the encounter erupted when the five men opened fire at the policemen approaching their hideout in Sitio Mapayag in Barangay Pimbalayan, a secluded area in Lambayong town.

Policemen involved in the operation found in the hideout of the five slain men 50 grams of shabu that investigators said was worth P340,000.

Besides shabu, the police team dispatched to arrest Salbo in an operation that went awry also seized their firearms, a gauge 12 shotgun, two .45 pistols, a .45 Ingram machine pistol and an M16 assault rifle.