Teen drug ‘distributor’ killed in police shootout

CEBU, Philippines —  A suspected drug distributor, 19, was killed in a “shootout” with operatives in Sitio San Roque, Barangay San Nicolas, Cebu City Monday afternoon.

Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO) identified the suspect as Marlon Dejino, a resident of the said area, the alleged source of illegal drugs seized from arrested drug personalities in the City of Naga last Saturday.

It was a follow-up anti-drug operation following the arrest of Antonnette Kanemaru, 37, in Purok Chicos Barangay Inuburan, Naga City.

Kanemaru was arrested along with a 17-year-old cohort , while her partner, Bembo Barciana, was able to evade arrest.

They yielded around half million worth of shabu.

Kanemaru told police that she sourced her supply from Dejino.

Police hatched a plan to arrest Dejino through a buy-bust operation.

However, Dejino noticed that the person he was transacting with was an undercover police officer. He pulled an undetermined gun and fired at the cop, but missed.

The cop retaliated and hit the suspect, said Senior Superintendent Manuel Abrugena.

Dejino was brought to the Cebu City Medical Center, but he died along the way.

Abrugena expressed alarm over the arrest of teens involved in illegal drugs, not just as couriers and runners but now as distributors.

He said minors are being used by drug syndicates as cover because they would not be held criminally liable under the law.

"Ang mga drug lord gumagamit na ng menor de edad and masbata kasi madali silang i-persuade, madaling kombinsehin na kumita ng malaki," he said in a phone interview.

Meanwhile, a 33-year-old woman was shot dead by an unidentified assailant in Barangay Banilad, Mandaue City yesterday morning.

Victim was identified as Lovely Regenio, a resident of Sitio Lower Sampaguita of the same village and a former company cashier.

Senior Inspector Zosimo Jabas, chief of Casuntingan Police Station 4, said Regenio was washing her clothes when the lone assailant suddenly appeared and shot her around 8:45 in the morning.

Regenio succumbed to gunshot wound to her chest. She was rushed to the hospital, but did not make it there alive.

The suspect wearing a black jacket casually walked away from the scene after shooting Regenio, police said.

Regenio’s neighbors, however, failed to identify the suspect.

Police said the victim’s family told them that Regenio recently won a labor case against her former employer.

Police have yet to determine the motive of the shooting and identify the suspect. — KBQ (FREEMAN)