Crusading anti-narco cop killed in ambush
Mindanao Armed Conflict • 09:15 AM Wed Apr 12, 2023
898
By:
John M. Unson
The vehicle of the slain Police Staff Sgt. Abejay Dandan. (From Kabacan MPS)
COTABATO CITY - Gunmen killed in an ambush at dusk Tuesday a policeman instrumental in the entrapment of no fewer than 20 high-profile shabu dealers in Cotabato province in the past two years.
The slain Staff Sgt. Abejay Dandan of the Drug Enforcement Unit of the Cotabato Provincial Police Office, who belonged to a big clan in Pikit town in Cotabato, was also popular for his hardline stance in dealing with law offenders.
Colonel Harold Ramos, Cotabato police provincial director, told DXND Radyo Bida that Sgt. Dandan died while undergoing medication at a hospital in Kidapawan City.
Ramos said the 35-year-old off duty cop was driving his black Toyota Innova when ambushed along the national highway in Barangay Katidtuan, Kabacan, Coitabato at about 8:05 p.m. He said the suspects were on board an SUV and used assault rifles in killing Dandan.
The culprits immediately sped away after the attack.
Brig. Gen. Jimili Macaraeg, director of the Police Regional Office 12, told reporters Wednesday investigators from the Kabacan Municipal Police Station and the Cotabato Provincial Police are together trying to identify his killers for prosecution.
Macaraeg said PRO-12 shall extend financial assistance to the family of Dandan.
North Cotabato Gov. Emmylou Taliño-Mendoza, chairperson of the Cotabato Provincial Peace and Order Council, condemned the incident and urged the police to tap the support of local government units in the province in putting closure to the incident.