4 drug pushers shot dead in Dagupan
FOUR suspected drug pushers in Dagupan City Police’s watch list were shot dead, three of them in a shootout with policemen, in three separate incidents in the city in two successive days starting July 4.
The campaign against illegal drugs in the city has since intensified after President Duterte was sworn in.
The latest to die in a shoot-out with lawmen was Oscar Abella, a resident of Barangay Pantal who was gunned down during a buy-bust operation in Barangay Tebeng on July 5 at 10:30 p.m.
According to P/Supt. Christopher Abrahano, chief of police of Dagupan, police operatives beat Abella to the draw when the latter tried to reach for his handgun from his waist on sensing that the men he was dealing with were actually police posing as buyers.
Recovered from the scene were a 9 millimeter pistol, a Cal. 22 revolver, five empty shells, five live ammunition and three sachets of shabu.
Abella’s companion, who is still unidentified, managed to escape on board a motorcycle and reportedly fired back at the police mobile patrol that chased him, hitting the vehicle’s windshield.
No policeman inside the patrol vehicle was hurt.
Meanwhile, killed last July 4 at 11:00 a.m. inside a room of Greenbee Lodge at Tondaligan Park in Bonuan Gueset were Gary “Opay” Catungal, 40, number one wanted drug personality in Malasiqui town, and Reynaldo “Piggie” Cornel, 42, a drug personality in Dagupan’s watch list from Sitio Las Vegas in Barangay Bonuan Gueset.
Abrahano said policemen shot the two when Catungal drew his handgun and Cornel pulled out a hand grenade when they realized that the buyers of one sachet of shabu were policemen.
Recovered by policemen inside the hotel room were a Cal. 45 pistol, a hand grenade, eight sachets of shabu and one weighing scale.
It was learned that Cornel was one of 500 drug personalities who reportedly surrendered to Barangay Bonuan Gueset Chairman Rico Mejia and signed the covenant to reform themselves.
Then, Rafael de Vera, 42, alias “Aping”, listed as second top wanted drug personality in the Barangay Anti-Drug Abuse Council’s (BADAC) watch list was shot dead inside his house in Sitio Bagong Baryo, Bonuan Binloc at about 2:30 p.m. last July 5.
Five armed suspects, one of them a woman on board two motorcycles, reportedly drove through narrow alleys, and stopped in front of the victim’s house.
The suspects who wore bonnets reportedly chanced upon De Vera who was preparing to leave the house to join his neighbors to fish in the sea when the latter was shot dead.
De Vera was cornered with his younger sister when he was shot. The sister was not harmed. The suspects immediately rode off after they made certain that De Vera was dead.
A signboard that read “Wag tularan, Adik ako may kasunod pa. DDS” was found near the body of the victim.
His mother Teodora, 60, denied her son was a drug pusher but merely a user.
She said she was ready to surrender her son to Barangay Binloc chairman Pedro Gonzales.
Gonzales was not around when the crime scene was being processed by personnel of the Scene of the Crime Operatives (SOCO) and merely sent a barangay tanod to observe. (Leonardo Micua/Johanne Macob)
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