SHOOTOUT (INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/ ARNOLD ALMACEN)
KANANGA, Leyte — A drug surrenderer who allegedly returned to drug-dealing was killed in a shootout with the police in Barangay Poblacion, Kananga town, Leyte, on Wednesday night, a police report said.
The police identified the fatality as Frank Go , 29, who was tagged as a level 2 high-value target of the Leyte Province Police Office.
Chief Insp. Ricky Reli, the Kananga police chief, said a joint team from the Regional Drug Enforcement Unit and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency conducted a buy-bust operation on Go past 9 p.m. in Poblacion.
He said the suspect drew his gun when he noticed that he was selling a pack of shabu to an undercover policeman.
But the policeman’s companion was able to shoot the suspect first, killing him on the spot.
Recovered from Go were a P500 bill, three medium packs of shabu worth P30,000 and a .45-pistol loaded with five bullets.
Ricarte Go, the suspect’s elder brother, said his brother had already stopped selling shabu after he surrendered in July 2016 during Oplan Tokhang, a police campaign that encouraged drug pushers and users to surrender and change their ways.
But he added his brother’s live-in partner influenced him to go back to the illegal drugs trade. SFM