A former mayor who was arrested for illegal drugs and gun-running charges in the Philippines was shot dead by the police on Thursday.
The former mayor was shot dead after he grabbed the pistol of one of the officers escorting him to a detention facility, police said.
The suspect, Montasser Sabal, was being transported to the national police headquarters in Manila when he was shot inside the police vehicle, said Albert Ignatius Ferro, chief of the criminal investigation division of the national police.
“The suspect grabbed his police escort’s firearm while on board the vehicle which resulted in a scuffle wherein he was able to shoot the police officer beside him,’’ Ferro said.
Other police officers in the vehicle shot at Sabal and wounded him, he added.
Sabal, a former town mayor in the southern province of Maguindanao, was rushed to a nearby hospital but was declared dead on arrival, Ferro said.
The suspect was arrested on Wednesday evening at the port in Batangas province, 95 km south of Manila.
His three companions were also taken into police custody, a police report said.
Police seized various firearms and packets containing suspected methampetamine from his vehicle.
National police chief, Guillermo Eleazar, said Sabal was facing illegal drug charges and allegations that he was supplying firearms and explosive materials to a group of Muslim separatist rebels in Maguindanao.
“The neutralisation of Sabal is a big blow to the chain of supply of firearms and explosive materials to the BIFF,“ he said, referring to the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, a group of militants that have been blamed for various attacks and bombings.
