Guns found in septic tank of ex-IRRI carpenter

SAN PEDRO CITY – A man was arrested Wednesday after the police found several high-powered guns hidden in his septic tank in Los Baños town in Laguna province.

Los Baños police chief Supt. Vicente Cabatingan said police, armed with a search warrant issued by judge Agripino Morga of the regional trial court branch 32, swooped down on the house of Levi Malijan, 66, a retired carpenter at the International Rice Research Institute around 5 a.m. on Wednesday in Barangay San Antonio.

Cabatingan, in a phone interview, said police were tipped off that Malijan was keeping several unlicensed firearms in his home.

He said they were surprised and puzzled upon learning that the guns were hidden in the suspect’s septic tank, covered with cement. The police found two shotguns, two .22 caliber guns, an M16 rifle, a .45 caliber gun, a gun silencer and several ammunitions.

The firearms did not have licenses, Cabatingan said.

The police arrested Malijan but he has yet to say where he got the firearms and what his purpose was for keeping them. JE