4 Chinese held for firing unlicensed guns in range

THE CHINESE nationals in jail in Cagayan de Oro City. They face charges of illegal possession of firearms for firing unlicensed semiautomatic weapons in a shooting range. JB R. DEVEZA/INQUIRER MINDANAO

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY—Four Chinese nationals have been arrested by police after they fired two unlicensed firearms during a shooting competition in a firing range beside the regional police office here.

The four, who were unable to present passports and other identification papers, caught the attention of police officers, who were also in the firing range, after they fired automatic bursts from their submachine guns on Sunday night.

The four drew the attention of Senior Insp. Wilfredo Ochegue, chief of the Libona Municipal Police Station and who was in the range to take part in a shooting competition, when he heard successive bursts of automatic fire in the shooting range.

Insp. Danilo Calurasan, deputy station commander of the Agora Police Station and one of the responding officers, said Ochegue was surprised to hear automatic fire when competitors were only supposed to fire two successive shots, known to shooters as a double tap, during a competition.

The four, all of whom can only speak in Chinese and rudimentary Visayan, gave their names to policemen as Sek Quing Hui, Jake Co Shi, Jason Lim Chang and Tomy Kua Sy. All four said they come from Fujian, China.

One of the four, Tomy Kua Sy, told policemen he is married to a Filipino woman. Police were, however, unable to verify the names of the four as all carried no identification papers when they were arrested.

Calurasan said the four also refused to say how they got their guns or what their business in the city was.

Seized from the four were a Colt Mark IV .45-caliber pistol with magazine and a modified 9mm Luger KG-9 submachine gun with magazine.