GENERAL SANTOS CITY — A suspected drug pusher was shot dead by police operatives in a village in Glan town in Sarangani Province on Tuesday night.
Chief Insp. Aldrin Gonzales, public information officer of the Police Regional Office-12, identified the slain suspect as Jimmy Pulido Asuncion, 29, a resident of Purok 5, Barangay Tango in Glan.
He said elements from the Glan municipal police station initially subjected the suspect to a drug buy-bust at the vicinity of Purok 6 in Barangay Tango.
Posing as a buyer, he said a police officer was able to purchase a pack of dried marijuana leaves with stalks and seeds worth P500 from Asuncion.
But Gonzales said Asuncion later sensed the presence of police operatives, drew a handgun tucked on his waist and fired at them.
“The operating team subsequently retaliated and fatally hit the suspect,” he said.
The police official said the operatives rushed Asuncion to the Glan Medicare Community Hospital but was declared dead upon arrival by the attending doctor.
Recovered from the suspect’s possession were the P500 marked bill, a pack of marijuana leaves with stalks and seeds rolled in an old newspaper, two plastic sachets containing suspected metamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu, a caliber 22 revolver with defaced serial number and loaded with seven ammunitions and one fired empty shell.
He also yielded about two kilograms of electrical wire in assorted sizes that were believed stolen along national highway in Barangay Tango.
Chief Supt. Marcelo Morales, Region 12 police director, said police units in the region have been very transparent in terms of the conduct of the renewed anti-drug campaign.
“In fact, we have constantly been conducting a bloodless Tokhang operations to let people know that we don’t want to be the cause of death of any drug suspect killed during operations,” he said.
But he said there are still suspects who opted to resist arrest, leading to their “untimely death.” (AMS/PNA)
