Mayor linked to drugs trade shot dead in cell

 A mayor linked to the drugs trade in the Philippines has been shot dead in his jail cell by police.  Rolando Espinosa, mayor of the central town of Albuera, had fired at officers searching for weapons, police said.  The death comes after President Rodrigo Duterte vowed to step up his policy of killing suspected drug […]

 A mayor linked to the drugs trade in the Philippines has been shot dead in his jail cell by police. 

Rolando Espinosa, mayor of the central town of Albuera, had fired at officers searching for weapons, police said.  The death comes after President Rodrigo Duterte vowed to step up his policy of killing suspected drug dealers. 

A new stage in the crackdown was announced last week to include mayors and senior drug lords. The “war on drugs” has killed up to 4,000 people.

Mr Duterte, 71, was elected in May on a platform of preventing the Philippines becoming a “narco state” by sanctioning the extra-judicial killing of drug criminals who fail to turn themselves in. 

The policy has faced strong criticism from human rights groups and put Mr Duterte at odds with the United States – a staunch ally of the Philippines. But he won the election by a landslide and the controversial policy remains popular with many Filipinos.