Cop killed in drive vs illegal firecrackers

A policeman was killed while another one was shot in the leg during an operation against an illegal firecrackers stall owned by a fellow policeman in Quezon City Thursday morning.

The slain lawman was identified as PO2 Bernardo Quintero who was hit in the chest. His fellow policeman, PO2 Jessie Adajar, was taken to a hospital for treatment.

The two are assigned at the Fairview police station whose members were reportedly conducting a crackdown on vendors of illegal firecrackers when they came under fire Thursday.

Only one of their attackers, however, was arrested while the rest escaped, the police said.

He was identified as PO1 Faisal Mala, the owner of the store and a bodyguard of Lanao del Sur Rep. Pangalian Balindong.

Chief Insp. Rodelio Marcelo, head of the Quezon City Police District (QCPD) Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit (CIDU), said the policemen were checking on a makeshift firecrackers store set up at a vacant lot on Adrian Street, Fairmont Subdivision in North Fairview, Quezon City, when they were shot at at around 11 a.m. yesterday.

Parked beside the store was a delivery truck full of pyrotechnics. Thousands of pesos worth of firecrackers were also found in a nearby storage area.

Marcelo added that the store did not have a permit to sell firecrackers. Mala is now considered under arrest and may be charged for the death of Quintero and the wounding of Adajar.

“We have at least three police operatives at the site who positively identified Mala as among those who opened fire on the policemen,” the official said in a phone interview.

Mala, however, denied firing at the policemen although he admitted he owns the stall.

The CIDU is poised to file murder and attempted murder raps against him and at least eight other men.

Supt. Froilan Uy, Fairview police station commander, said that his men had been monitoring the firecrackers store after they found out that it did not have a permit to sell or store pyrotechnics and the firecrackers on sale were from unauthorized manufacturers.

According to Marcelo, the police conducted an operation last week with the store as the target. This might have prompted the owner to assign armed men to guard the stall, he added.

Initial investigation showed that Quintero, Adajar and several other policemen were scouting the area for illegal firecrackers when they came upon the store.

Marcelo said Quintero was hit immediately after he got off the police patrol car. He died while being treated in a nearby hospital.

He added that it was possible there were snipers in the fire-fight as the policemen didn’t know where the shots were coming from.

Some of the gunmen were reportedly armed with long firearms as police were able to recover spent M-16 bullets at the site.

Meanwhile, some P20,000 worth of confiscated illegal firecrackers were destroyed at the QCPD headquarters in Camp Karingal.

Among those seized were “pla-pla,” “Goodbye Philippines,” and “bawang,” among others.

The items were confiscated in separate operations conducted by different police teams upon the order of QCPD director Chief Supt. George Regis.