ILOILO City – A drug pushing suspect and alleged hit man of slain drug lord Melvin Odicta Sr. died in a buy-bust operation of the police in Barangay Santo Rosario, Buenavista, Guimaras.
The 50-year-old Jose Solon died of multiple gunshot wounds on Sunday. He put up a fight, said Senior Inspector Kennith Bermejo, chief of the Police Regional Office 6’s Regional Drug Enforcement Unit (RDEU).
Solon, known as “Tatang Joe” in the local illegal drug trade, fired his gun at police operatives when he realized he was being entrapped so he was shot, according to Bermejo.
Seconds prior to the shootout around 8:20 p.m., an undercover police officer bought from Solon a sachet of shabu for P500.
The buy-bust was staged at Solon’s house.
Four more sachets of shabu worth P5,000 were recovered from Solon’s pocket, said Bermejo.
The suspect’s gun, a .45 pistol, was also seized.
Solon was a high-value target, said Bermejo.
After Odicta was killed in Aug. 28, 2016 in Malay, Aklan Solon laid low but resumed peddling shabu a year after in Iloilo and Guimaras provinces, and Bacolod City, said Bermejo.
“We received information that his supplier was in Bacolod City,” said the RDEU chief. “It took us some time to seal a deal with him. He was very careful with people he was doing business with.”
Senior Inspector Jeffrey Ferrer, Buenavista police chief, said Solon seldom stayed home.
Sunday night’s operation was carried out by the RDEU, municipal police station of Buenavista, Guimaras Police Provincial Office, and the Provincial Drug Enforcement Unit./PN
