Zambo Shoot-Out Against Drug Syndicate

One SAF Dead and Police Officer Wounded --- so what happens next? Both living and dead need not just our sympathy, but all the financial support we - especially from Zamboanga, and I don't mean just the private citizens, but city officials, whose city these police officers were protecting from drug syndicate and terrorists - can harness for their sacrifice. Below is the 'Zamboanga Today Online' story of the encouonter in Recodo, Zamboanga City, April 28, 2012.

SAF killed, policeman wounded in Recodo shootout

Saturday, 28 April 2012 11:57

A member of the police special action force (SAF) was killed while another policeman was wounded in a shootout against a notorious drug supplier during a special operation conducted by the joint operatives of local and regional Philippine National Police (PNP) and Philippine Drugs Enforcement Agency (PDEA) at Purok 8, Barangay Recodo, this city, Thursdayafternoon. 

Ayala Police Station commander Superintendent Albert Larubis told Zamboanga Today that the combined police operatives and PDEA members served a arrest warrant against notorious drug dealer Margani Samla also known as Bin Laden. 

The drug enforcement operation resulted to the killing of Police Officer 2 Roberto Tucay, a member of the PNP-SAF, and wounding of Police Officer 3 Flavio Enriquez Jr. of the Regional Intelligence Division, Police Regional Office 9 (PRO9), and a woman identified as Hadjing Latip y Arasain, 80, a resident of the said place. 

The wounded victims were rushed to the hospital for medical treatment but PO2 Tucay was pronounced dead on arrival by the attending doctors.                 

Authorities also arrested 6 persons Muhiddin Ismael y Huni, 40; Jerhan Huni y Hawani, 25; Kadil Ismael y Huni, 30; Mursadar Sakandal y Abdulla, 24; Edmon Agustin y Loreto, 22; and Marsid Sahi, 20; all residents of Purok 8, Recodo.

All six arrested persons are now under police custody for interrogation.
Samla is listed as one of the most wanted persons of the Zamboanga City Police Office (ZCPO) this year.

Police and PDEA personnel are continuously conducting illegal drug buy-bust and entrapment operations at the said barangay against notorious drug pushers in the area. 

Oftentimes, the local police and PDEA agents are harassed and ambushed by unidentified armed men believed to be members of the drug syndicate. 
Several killings and shooting incidents at the said barangay have been associated to the operation of illegal drugs.

By Eugene A. Lasprilla