Cebu City police exec ambushed

CEBU CITY — Three hours after he and his men raided a KTV bar owned by a businessman alleged to be into the illegal drugs trade, the investigation and intelligence chief of the city police was ambushed by three gunmen on his way home early Thursday morning.

Pablo Labra II escaped unhurt. He suspects the attempt on his life was drug-related, he having been responsible for numerous arrests of people involved in illegal drugs.

The owner of the raided Infinity KTV Bar, Peter Lim, and his brother Wellington have been accused by two former employees of being alleged drug lords during a congressional hearing last week.

Labra, however, said he believes the ambush was not related to the raid.

Among the notable arrests which Labra and his men had made involved suspected big-time drug pushers Allan Arriesgado, a son of alleged drug queen Ma. Luisa Arriesgado, and Romeo Fernandez.

The young Arriesgado is back on the streets after being acquitted last Oct. 15 of a charge of possession of more than 200 grams of shabu.

The court said prosecutors failed to prove Arriesgado owned the drugs which were seized inside his mother’s house in Inayawan on May 23 last year.

Fernandez, meanwhile, escaped from the hospital where he had been taken to treat his hernia. Police have been unsuccessful in tracking him down.

Labra and his men are taking part in a multi-agency investigation into the alleged illegal drug dealings of the Lim brothers following the allegations raised during the congressional hearing, which resumed yesterday.

Labra had just made a right turn to Solon street from Andres Abellana and was about a hundred meters from his home when three men with handguns emerged from behind an electric post and opened fire.

Labra managed to fire back at his attackers with his Magnum .357 revolver and claimed to have hit one of them.

The attackers fled on foot toward the Banawa public market. Labra sustained minor scratches while trying to duck for safety but his blue Honda Civic was peppered with bullets, its windshield shattered.

He could not describe his attackers, except for minor details such as one can possibly be in his early 20s, about five-foot, four-inch tall and with straight hair. The two others, he recalled, wore dark shirts.

A month ago, Labra said a number of men appeared to be casing his house and its vicinity, prompting him to be cautious and move about with no definite pattern.

Acting police chief Lani-O Nerez said the attackers were probably not professional hit men, judging by the way they ambushed Labra.

Nerez refused to comment if the ambush might be related to the raid at Infinity KTV Bar, which was not for illegal drugs but for indecency. Three guest relations officers were caught naked and were subsequently charged. — Freeman News Service