Shabu dealer killed in Lanao del Sur shootout
COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Anti-narcotics agents shot dead a trafficker who provoked a gunfight after turning over to them half a kilo of shabu in an entrapment operation in Balabagan town in Lanao del Sur on Wednesday, April 14, that went awry.
Local officials and members of the multi-sector Lanao del Sur Provincial Peace and Order Council who helped plan the operation confirmed to reporters on Thursday that Farouk Ampuan Ansa, known to them as a large-scale shabu and marijuana trafficker, died instantly from bullet wounds sustained in the shootout.
Edgar Jubay, regional director of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, said on Thursday that PDEA-BARMM agents were about to frisk and cuff the suspect after selling to them his illegal merchandise during a tradeoff in Barangay Purakan, but were forced to neutralize him instead when he pulled out a gun and opened fire.
Local executives in Balabagan and nearby towns had told reporters that Ansa had eluded six attempts by the police and local government units to entrap him in different towns in the province.
Besides the P3.4 million worth shabu, PDEA-BARMM agents had also confiscated the unlicensed 9 millimeter pistol of Ansa and his mobile phone bearing the numbers of his contacts in Lanao del Sur and nearby provinces in the Bangsamoro region.
Jubay said he is thankful to all local government officials in Balabagan and the director of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, Brig. Gen. Jaysen De Guzman, for having supported their entrapment operation extensively on Wednesday in Balabagan, one of the 39 towns in Lanao del Sur.
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