Cops nab 3 in separate anti-crime operations in Quezon

LUCENA CITY – Three men were arrested in Quezon province in separate police operations, police said Sunday.

This, as lawmen were giving more emphasis on combating other criminal activities after President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the Philippine National Police to suspend its campaign against illegal drugs last week, police said.

Senior Supt. Rhoderick Armamento, Quezon police director, said farmer Richard Macaraig, while traveling aboard his motorcycle, was nabbed in a police checkpoint in Barangay (village) Malabanban Sur in Candelaria town after he was found carrying an undocumented Smith and Wesson caliber .357 magnum revolver loaded with five live bullets at around 5:00 a.m.

In San Francisco town, theft suspect Mark Angelo Garcia was arrested on Saturday afternoon in a raid at his “safehouse.” Seized from him was an improvised shotgun, several bullets and stolen motorcycle parts he was intending to sell.

Earlier in Sariaya town, police operatives armed with a search warrant raided the house of suspected illegal gun owner Ronnel Pardilla in Barangay Guisguis Talon.

The raid yielded no firearm but policemen confiscated three small plastic packets of “shabu” (methamphetamine hydrochloride), marijuana residue and drug paraphernalia in the house. JE/rga