Valenzuela raid found ‘private army’?

The police found guns, ammunition and Molotov bombs during a raid on a residential compound in Barangay Marulas, Valenzuela City, on Wednesday morning.

The 5 a.m. raid by the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG) led to the arrest of property owner Ben Ledesma and nephew Jefferson.

Nineteen others, some of them security guards, were also brought to Camp Crame for questioning, said Chief Insp. Roque Merdeguia Jr., head of the CIDG antitransnational crime unit.

Seized during the raid were six shotguns, seven handguns, assorted ammunition and six Molotov bombs.

The PNP is charging them with illegal possession of firearms and explosives, but the Ledesmas and the others are also under investigation on suspicion that they were part of a private army, Merdeguia added.

The CIDG applied for a search warrant on the property on R. Valenzuela Street, after residents complained about gunshots coming from the compound. —JEROME ANING