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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
National
Rachel Roberts

British man fighting for life after being shot in the Philippines days before his wedding

A British man is fighting for his life after being shot in the Philippines just days before his wedding.

Tarek Naggar, 44, is said to be critically injured and in intensive care after being attacked during a robbery on the island of Cebu.

The Sunday Herald reports that Mr Naggar - from Milngavie in East Dunbartonshire but recently living in Sweden - was gunned down while sitting outside a bar in the capital, Cebu City, in the early hours of Thursday with his fiancee Angie and best man Chris McLaughlin.

Three men on a moped are believed to have pulled over and demanded the Scot hand over his wallet. When he refused, one of the assailants pulled out a gun and shot him in the chest.

The men are believed to have fled the scene with Mr Naggar's wallet containing credit cards and the local money he was carrying, equivalent to less than £10.

Mr McLaughlin told the Sunday Herald that Mr Naggar, who was due to get married on Saturday in front of 150 guests, was operated on to remove a bullet lodged in his lung and is now on life support.

His fiancée is a local woman and the couple were reportedly intending to move to Thailand where she had arranged a job teaching English. Mr Naggar is said to have travelled extensively and to have met his wife-to-be in Sweden.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has been in touch with his next of kin and various authorities in the area.

A spokeswoman for the FCO said: "We are assisting a British national who was shot during a robbery in Cebu, and are in touch with local authorities."

The Philippines has one of the highest rates of violent crime in the world, and Cebu city, which has a population of two million, is one of the most dangerous places. The political situation in the country is also volatile after President Rodrigo Duerte announced his war against the drugs trade last year.

More than 4,000 people accused of selling or even taking illegal drugs are believed to have been killed by vigilantes, including off-duty police officers on the orders of the controversial President.

Additional reorting by PA

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