Kidnap gang member slain; ‘shabu’ P1M recovered in Laguna

SAN PEDRO CITY — A man tagged as a police “high-value” target for various crimes, involving abduction and illegal drug sale, was killed in a shootout with the police in Calamba City in Laguna province on Saturday.

Laguna police chief Col. Eleazar Matta, in a text message, identified the suspect as Jayvie Bayani, 28.

Bayani was allegedly a member of the Fajardo Group in Laguna, which has been tagged in several incidents of abduction and illegal drug trafficking.

Matta said the suspect was the target of the police buy-bust operation, this time for illegal firearms.

He said Bayani met with undercover policemen around 3:30 a.m. along Filinvest Road in Barangay Barandal for the sale of a .45 caliber gun.

After handing out the gun, police said Bayani must have realized he was dealing with the police and fired his other gun at them.

Bayani tried to escape onboard his car but a back-up team cornered him not too far away. Bayani was shot as police returned fire.

He was dead on arrival in the hospital, Matta said.

Aside from the four guns, among them the one Bayani used in the
shootout, police said they also found 150 grams of suspected “shabu” (crystal meth) worth P1 million in the suspect’s car./lzb