Intel cop, 2 gun dealers killed in Pagadian sting

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — A police officer and two known illegal gun dealers were killed in a sting that went awry in Pagadian City before dawn yesterday.

The Zamboanga Peninsula Police Office said Maj. Aiman Khuzaimah Pantaran, Pagadian City Police Station intelligence unit chief, died from a gunshot to the chest.

Pantaran, 35, was rushed to the Mendero Medical Center in Pagadian, but was declared dead on arrival.

Police said it was Pantaran who planned the operation, which went haywire when siblings Janie and Jerry Gomez pulled out their guns and opened fire after sensing they were dealing with plainclothes policemen.

Probers said the Gomez brothers had tried to sell guns in Purok Malipayon in Barangay Dao.

Local executives said the two were known as peddlers of unlicensed weapons and traffickers of shabu and marijuana, adding that they had been repeatedly jailed in the past for various criminal offenses.

Police said the Gomez brothers died at the scene during the brief shootout.

Initial investigation showed that the Gomez brothers were linked to several criminal gangs in Lanao del Sur, which were neutralized in several operations of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region Police and the Army’s 103rd Infantry Brigade.

Cop’s hand severed

Meanwhile, a police officer’s hand was severed after a man attacked him with a bolo in San Jose, Camarines Sur on Saturday.

S/Sgt. Noli Miraña and other personnel of the San Jose town police were responding to an alarm about an armed person in Barangay Calalahan, according to the Bicol Regional Police Office.

The team initially tried to de-escalate the situation and communicate with the man. However, the suspect suddenly charged at the officers, causing Miraña to fall on the ground.

The man then hacked Miraña’s left hand and face, and was stopped only after the other officers fired at his thighs. — Mark Ernest Villeza