A SUSPECTED drug pusher who heeded the Duterte administration’s call to surrender or be hunted down, was in fact – hunted down – by unidentified assailants a day after his surrender.
Thirty-eight-year-old Basilio Jucson alias “Boy Kagot” died from a gunshot wound to his chest after he was gunned down at around 7 p.m., Thursday, while he was busy feeding dinner to his two-year-old daughter in their home in Barangay Balod, Dalaguete Southern Cebu.
SPO1 Jove Sarveda of the Dalaguete police station said that the victim’s wife was in another room, arranging the couple’s belongings, when she heard two successive bursts of gunfire.
According to police investigators, when the victim’s wife rushed out of the room to check, she found her husband already sprawled on the floor covered in blood, their daughter miraculously unscathed.
The victim was immediately brought to the Dalaguete District Hospital but was pronounced dead on arrival.
Just last Wednesday, Jucson surrendered to the Dalaguete police under the so-called “Oplan Tokhang,” a nationwide police campaign to warn illegal drug traffickers and users that law enforcers are going after them if they don’t decide to give up the trade. Tokhang is short for “toktok-hangyo,” Cebuano for knock and persuade.
According to police, since Jucson had no pending warrant of arrest, he was allowed to go home after signing a form detailing his drug involvement along with his name, address and contact number. He also took a government-prepared oath and promise to stop any involvement in illegal drug operations.
Police investigators in Dalaguete said Jucson may have been killed for failing to remit drug proceeds to his cohorts, which was why, police claimed, he surrendered in the first place.
Recovered from the crime scene were two empty shells of a .45 caliber pistol found outside of the house.