NAGA CITY—The campaign against loose firearms in Masbate got a shot in the arm in the last two weeks of November after police recovered unlicensed guns in the towns of Milagros and Cataingan.
The recovery was a big boost to the anticrime campaign in Masbate, the southernmost province of Bicol, as most crimes in the province were linked to the proliferation of unlicensed weapons.
On Tuesday a police team led by Insp. Dedimo B. Ibañez, deputy intelligence chief of the Masbate police, arrested Martin Baunsit, 43, of Cawayan, Masbate, for illegal possession of firearms, according to Senior Supt. Heriberto Olitoquit, acting Masbate police chief.
Seized from Baunsit was an unlicensed .357 Magnum revolver and several bullets. The weapon and ammunition were found in his boat.
On Nov. 24, the Cataingan police led by Insp. Romeo Tapan Ranara, the town’s deputy police chief, also recovered unlicensed firearms in a bus bound for Masbate City at a checkpoint.
A check made in the bus yielded unlicensed guns supposedly issued to a security agency in Cebu City.
Police stepped up operations against unlicensed guns in Masbate in November.