PDEA agent, trafficker killed in Tawi-Tawi sting

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — A Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) agent and a suspected shabu trafficker were killed during a failed drug sting in Bongao, Tawi-Tawi yesterday.

Three members of the Navy’s 4th Marine Battalion, including its commanding officer Lt. Col. Richard Malabanan, were wounded during the incident, according to the Bangsamoro police based at Camp SK Pendatun in Parang, Maguindanao del Norte.

Malabanan, who was shot and wounded in the head, was airlifted by a Philippine Air Force team to a hospital in Zamboanga City for treatment.

The PDEA identified its slain agent as Ernie Jim Dayag.

Barangay Paniongan chairman Manan Rasul said the PDEA agents, Marines and several Tawi-Tawi units of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region police had launched a sting against a group of drug dealers in the barangay’s Mapanbubu area.

But the operation was compromised, with the suspects provoking a gunfight. Gunmen from houses around the area then opened fire on the law enforcers.

One of the gunmen, who was not immediately identified, was killed in the firefight.

Local executives and provincial police officials in Tawi-Tawi said the heavily armed drug dealers in the bloody clash managed to escape.

A joint police-military manhunt operation was launched against the suspects.