MANILA, Philippines—Seventeen loose firearms and half a kilo of marijuana were seized by police during a saturation drive in Quezon City late Friday night, leading to the arrest of nine residents.

Operatives of the Quezon City Police District were also able to recover drug paraphernalia from three barangays near Batasan police station, said Supt Constante Agpaoa.

The roundup, dubbed Oplan Galugad, was conducted in Barangays Commonwealth, Batasan and Holy Spirit, particularly in the slum areas of Freedom Park, Riveside, Martan, San Simon, and Republic Saringan.

“This is part of our anticriminality campaign,” said Senior Supt. Audie Arroyo, deputy district director for operations.

Arroyo said they nabbed 62 persons aged 25 and up for questioning, but nine people were held in police custody after they were found to have firearms and illegal drugs in their possessions.

Of the nine persons, seven were arrested for drug possession while two were nabbed for illegal possession of firearms.

“Their initial violations were related to a city ordinance on vagrancy and drinking liquor on the streets. The 62 men brought to the station were released after they were found to have no criminal records,” Agpaoa added.

The seized firearms included 12 pieces of improvised shotguns, five cal .38 revolvers and one 12 gauge shotguns.

The suspects were identified as Leonardo Gacia, Ervin Santos, Elmer Loyola, Bugan Gacuscus, Arnold Ebit, Reynaldo Garcia, Aldrin Bulan, Salardin Macaranpat and Alex Macarot.

“A number of the firearms were left behind in parked vehicles by their holders who had scampered when the police arrived,” Agpaoa said, adding they also recovered drug paraphernalia, including aluminum foil and lighters.

The saturation drive began at around 10 p.m. Friday until to 1 a.m. yesterday.

Arroyo said the simultaneous operations were conducted by operatives from the Batasan police station, the District Police Intelligence Operations Unit, the District Mobile Group and the Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit.

QCPD director CSupt Elmo San Diego said the drive was part of their anticriminality measures in anticipation of the expected upsurge of theft and robbery cases and other crimes with the coming of the Christmas season.

Arroyo said the confiscated firearms were believed to be used by some criminal elements in slum areas and even in violent activities, including cases of gang wars.