INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
LUCENA CITY — Three motorcycle riders on Wednesday yielded illegal firearms at a checkpoint in Rosario town, Batangas.
The Batangas police reported that local cops flagged down at around 1:45 a.m. Marvel Mendoza, 50; Edwin Dagli, 47; and Antonio Gabia, 69, aboard two motorcycles at a routine checkpoint in the town center.
The police noticed that each of the riders was carrying a sling bag.
When asked for the content of their bags, the three riders admitted that they were carrying firearms, but failed to present government documents for their guns, the report said.
The cops seized from Mendoza a caliber .45 pistol, two magazines and 16 bullets; one .45 pistol, two magazines, and 16 bullets from Dagli; and a .45 pistol, two magazines, and seven bullets from Gabia.
The police are conducting further investigation to determine the personal background of the three riders.
The suspects were detained while charges of illegal possession of firearms and ammunition are being prepared. The police also impounded the suspect’s motorcycle.
In Lucena City, Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) operatives arrested an alleged gun-runner in a buy-bust operation Tuesday.
‘Gun runner’
The CIDG reported on Wednesday, Feb. 22, that an operative who posed as a buyer collared at 6:30 p.m. Eduardo Mercado Jr. in Barangay Cotta.
The report said Mercado offered an undocumented .38 revolver loaded with four bullets to the police agent for P20,000.
The police are investigating further to identify the source of the firearm.
The report tagged Mercado as a member of a gun-running syndicate led by Michael Calualhatian, who was nabbed in a gun buy-bust on Feb. 14 in this city.
The police also claimed that Mercado is a member of a local drug group operating in the province’s second district.
The suspect was detained and face a charge of illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition.
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