In a single night, 21 suspected drug users were killed in simultaneous drug busts that took place in Bulacan province, just north of Manila, from Monday night to Tuesday morning.
Police released some of the suspects’ identities by their aliases. They include Egoy, Tom, Enan, Justin, Berth, Alvin, Chris, Jerom, Yayot, Allan Tatô, Arnold, Willy, Jeffery, Elias, Eugene, Macoy, and one Pugeng Manyak.
All of these drug suspects figured in an armed encounter against police conducting the operations, police said in a report by ABS-CBN News.
Police Sr. Supt. Romeo Caramat of the Bulacan provincial police said that all of them were killed for fighting back against police officers.
Camarat said that a total of 26 buy-bust operations were conducted with two search warrants served. Sixty four others were arrested in the operations.
Police seized 100.25 grams of suspected meth (shabu), 17 revolvers, 2 improvised shotguns, a 9mm pistol and a caliber .32 pistol, he said.
After President Rodrigo Duterte won the election last year, he promised to wage a “brutal” war on drugs. Police have confirmed that more than 3,400 people have been killed in anti-drug operations.
Over 2,000 other people have been killed in drug-related crimes and thousands more murdered in unexplained circumstances, according to police data.
