Cops clash anew with Albay crime group; firearms seized

LEGAZPI CITY — Police have clashed anew with the notorious Concepcion Criminal Group, a gun-for-hire group involved in various crimes in the Bicol region, in Bato town, Camarines Sur on Sunday morning, police said.

Chief Inspector Maria Luisa Calubaquib, Bicol police spokesperson, said members of the police mobile forces in Camarines Sur who were on patrol encountered at least 10 members of the criminal group in Barangay Del Rosario around 6:30 a.m.

The encounter led to a 20-minute firefight where several members of the crime group were reportedly wounded, according to an initial police report.

Police operatives recovered from the place of encounter an M4 Colt rifle, three handguns, live ammunition from an M16 rifle, 9mm and .45 caliber pistols, and cellphones.

Calubaquib said it was the same armed men who engaged police operatives in a firefight on Friday in Barangay Along-ong in Libon town in Albay. She said the group fled towards nearby villages in the neighboring town of Bato in Camarines Sur.

READ: Several members of Albay crime group wounded in clash, police say

All adjacent police units in Camarines Sur and Albay have set up checkpoints to possibly intercept fleeing members of the Albay-based crime group. Police operatives were also directed to check all hospitals and clinics for patients who might have sought medical treatment for bullet wounds.

Meanwhile, in Quezon province, there were reports of an ongoing encounter between Army soldiers and suspected New People’s Army (NPA) rebels in Mauban town on Sunday afternoon.

As of posting time, troopers from Philippine Army’s Charlie Company, 1st Infantry Battalion, were still reportedly fighting an undetermined number of communist guerrillas in Barangay Cagsiay 2. The clash started at 3:30 p.m., according to Senior Supt. Osmundo de Guzman, Quezon police director, quoting an initial spot report. /ee