Police kill suspected drug pusher in Lucena clash

LUCENA CITY, Philippines — A suspected drug pusher was killed in a clash with policemen in Barangay Ransohan here on Saturday, police said on Sunday.

Superintendent Dennis de Leon, city police chief, identified the slain suspect as Severino Arlantico, also known as “Daddy,” of Ransohan.

De leon said that at about 1 a.m. on Saturday, members of police’s Special Weapons and Tactics (Swat) team went to the house of Arlantico to serve a search warrant but were fired upon by the suspect and by his companion, Edmund de Leon.

Policemen returned fire, hitting Arlantico, who died instantly.

P0lice said Arlantico was a “high value target” on the local police’s drug watch list.

They recovered a .22 cal. pistol and a plastic sachet of suspected shabu (methamphetamine hydrochloride) from the suspect.

Edmund escaped during the firefight but was arrested later. Police recovered a .38 cal. gun from him.

In a separate operation in the same village, Nelsa Pornales and John Paul Arlantico, son of the slain suspect, were arrested while reportedly sniffing shabu in a pot session.

Police seized three plastic sachets of shabu and drug paraphernalia from the suspects./rga