Mandaue police search for grenade owner

Mandaue City police are  in dark about who left behind the  three grenades that were found by children in a vacant lot in barangay Looc, Mandaue City last Saturday afternoon.

The owner may have left the grenades for fear of being caught in police checkpoints in the city, said Senior Supt. Petronelli Baldebrin, Mandaue City police chief.

He ordered the intelligence branch to look into the matter.

The boys found the military-grade grenades while scavenging for scrap. One boy  playing with it until his friend stopped him, saying he recognized it as a dangerous explosive in the video game Conterstrike.

Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes assured residents in barangay Looc not to panic  about the discovery.

“We believe the grenades were left there intentionally since they were still clean,” Baldebrin said.

He said the vacant lot was cordoned by Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) personnel and no other grenades found in the area.

“We cannot assume that the grenades had anything to do with the elections since Mandaue City is relatively peaceful based on past elections,” Baldebrin said.

The three grenades will be endorsed to the Firearms, Explosives Security Agencies and Guards Supervision Section (Fesagss) of the PNP for further examination.

Mayor Cortes said he doesn’t believe the grenades had anything to do with the elections next month. He was just grateful the children were not harmed.

Baldebrin said only policemen assigned at the Internal Security Operation (ISO) and detailed in insurgency-heavy areas are issued grenades.

One of the boys’ parents said he feared there may be other grenades in their lot.

The mother, Vilma told Cebu Daily News that she told her children not to leave the house.

“Of course I’m afraid because the grenades may have something to do with local political rivalry in the elections,” she said. /Reporter Jucell Marie P. Cuyos