‘High value’ drug suspect shot dead in Quezon

INQUIRER.NET FILE PHOTO

LUCENA CITY – A suspected drug pusher listed as a “high value target drug personality” was shot dead by motorcycle-riding gunmen in Infanta town in Quezon province on Wednesday, police said Thursday.

Chief Insp. Mark Amat, Infanta police chief, said the victim, Joel Fernandez, alias “Bistong”, 44, was standing along Malvar street in the town proper when he was shot several times by a still unidentified gunman, who used a .45-pistol around 8:30 p.m.

After the shooting, the killer escaped aboard a motorcycle with his accomplice. Amat, citing witnesses’ accounts, described the killers as both wearing bonnets.

Fernandez died while being taken to the Claro M. Recto hospital.

Amat said investigators have been pursuing different angles on the possible motives behind the killing, including personal enemies and illegal drug trafficking.

“He was a notorious drug pusher in the town. He was also a known drug user,” Amat said in a phone interview.  SFM/rga