Man loses life for P1, 360 worth of illegal drugs
SAN FERNANDO, Cebu—Keinlee Artista, 24, died after exchanging fire with police in a buy-and-bust operation around 9 p.m. on July 25 in Barangay San Isidro, San Fernando town, located 38.2 kilometers from Cebu City.
Artista, also a resident of Barangay San Isidro, just got out of jail last May 2019 after five months of being imprisoned for charges which involved peddling illegal drugs.
Two months later, on July 2019, Artista is dead after being embroiled again in the illegal drug trade.
On Thursday night, July 25, he was involved in an armed encounter with police and was found to have P1, 360 worth of illegal drugs in his possession.
Artista was brought to Carcar City District Hospital in the neighboring city of Carcar, about 18.5 kilometers from San Fernando, but was declared dead on arrival by the attending physician.
Police Major Lymel John Pasquin, chief of San Fernando Police, said the station’s Drug Enforcement Unit has been monitoring Artista after his neighbors complained that he is back to peddling drugs in their town.
Pasquin said they monitored Artista’s activities for a couple of days and confirmed that he was selling shabu (methamphetamine) again.
Pasquin said they did not expect Artista to be armed.
He said Artista fired at the police after he noticed that he was dealing with anti-drug operatives.
Pasquin said police fired back and hit Artista.
He was immediately brought to the Carcar City District Hospital but he was declared dead on arrival.
Personnel from the Scene of the Crime Operatives (Soco) recovered shabu with an estimated Dangerous Drugs Board (DBB) value worth P1, 360.
Soco person also recovered a gun with eight shell casings.
Artista was under probation when was released from jail last May 2019.
Artista’s older sister, Aileen (not her real namr), said she knew that her brother was involved in the illegal drug trade.
Aileen advised him to stop but her brother never listened.
“Bisan ingon ana sya pero akong manghud maayong tao,” she said.
(Even if he was involved in illegal drugs, my brother was a good person.)
Aileen denied that his brother had a gun.
She said police should not have shot his brother.
“Pero wala nata mahimo. Nahitabo na ang nahitabo (But we can’t do anything. What happened already happened),” said Aileen as tears rolled down her cheeks. / celr
Disclaimer: The comments uploaded on this site do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of management and owner of Cebudailynews. We reserve the right to exclude comments that we deem to be inconsistent with our editorial standards.
