100 nabbed in anti-crime ops in Nueva Ecija

A series of anti-criminality operations in Nueva Ecija and other Central Luzon provinces led to the confiscation of various firearms. Several other firearms were also surrendered under the government’s “Balik Baril Program.” (PHOTO BY ARMAND GALANG)

PALAYAN CITY — Police arrested at least 100 people in Nueva Ecija province during a series of anti-criminality operations in the past days, authorities said.

Col. Marvin Joe Saro, newly installed provincial director, said police from the province’s 27 towns and five cities have seized assorted firearms and illegal drugs during the intensified drive called “simultaneous anti-criminality law enforcement operations.”

Saro presented the confiscated items to Brig. Gen. Rhodel Sermonia, director of the Central Luzon police regional office, during a press briefing at the Palayan City Business Hub here on Friday.

Sermonia, along with Mayor Adrianne Mae Cuevas and Usec. Joel Sy Egco, executive director of Presidential Task Force on Media Security (PTFoMS), met with the media and presented more guns seized from different Central Luzon provinces.

Of the arrested persons, 39 were arrested by virtue of warrants of arrest for various crimes, 10 for anti-illegal gambling operations, and 62 for illegal drugs, Saro said.

According to Saro, these operations led to the seizure of P12,614 bet money and gambling paraphernalia, 167 sachets of “shabu” (crystal meth), and seven firearms in reported encounters.

A total of 24 firearms were also surrendered under the “Balik Baril Program” and another 20 for safekeeping, Saro said.

JE