LEGAZPI CITY—Police arrested in this city two men suspected to be members of a gun-for-hire gang and were carrying long and short firearms and a hand grenade late Thursday.
The suspects were identified as Lito Morauda, said to be a paramilitary man, and his companion Sunday Magdasoc, both of Camalig town in Albay.
They were caught in possession of two .45 caliber hand guns, a homemade M16 rifle, a hand grenade, several rounds of ammunition, a pepper spray and cash amounting P59,000 in Barangay (village) Homapon of this city, according to Senior Superintendent Marlo Meneses, the provincial police director of Albay.
Meneses, in a phone interview, said the two were nabbed in the house owned by a Florentino Albaytar in Sitio (sub-village) Agna of Barangay Homapon, a southern village some 10 kilometers from the city proper, in a raid led by Superintendent Joselito Eisico, Legazpi City’s police chief.
Albaytar reportedly was able to flee when the raid took place at around 10 p.m.
The police raid was in response to reports from villagers about the presence of unidentified armed men in the area.
Meneses said initial investigation indicated that Morauda was a member of a Civilian Armed Forces Geographical Unit (Cafgu).
Other information about the suspects was yet to be determined by police investigators, he added.
Meneses said they were still validating reports that the suspects were members of a gun-for-hire and a gun running syndicate operating in the province after one of the suspects could not explain where the money confiscated from them came from.
The suspects were now held at the city police detention cell awaiting the filing of illegal possession of firearms and ammunition charges them before the city prosecutors’ office. RAM
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