Fruit vendor slain in Lucena buy-bust

LUCENA CITY –– A fruit vendor who was also a suspected drug pusher was shot and killed when he allegedly engaged policemen in a firefight in a buy-bust operation in this city on Wednesday, police said.

Joel Toledo, 51, was shot and killed by an anti-illegal drugs operative when he reportedly resisted arrest after he sold “shabu” (crystal meth) to an undercover policeman in Barangay Market View around 1:15 p.m., Lucena police chief Lt. Col. Reydante Ariza, said in a report.

When Toledo was about to be arrested, he reportedly drew his caliber .38 revolver and shot the policeman while running towards his house but missed his target, the report said. The operative retaliated and shot the suspect who died on the spot.

Authorities recovered the suspect’s firearm and a plastic sachet containing less than one gram of shabu with an estimated street value of P480. /lzb