LINGAYEN, Pangasinan –Three men, one a village councilman, were arrested for possession of firearms in separate search warrants simultaneously implemented by the police in Bani and Aguilar towns on Friday, the Pangasinan Police Provincial Office (PPPO) reported Saturday.
The councilman was identified as Gerry Nacario, 57, of Barangay Tiep, Bani whose house was raided by the Intelligence Branch of the PPPO and the Provincial Public Safety Company of Alaminos City led by Chief Inspector Danilo Perez.
The simultaneous operations were only among several preemptive moves of the local PNP to rid Pangasinan of loose firearms, said Chief Inspector Norman Florentino, chief of the police-community relations of the PPPO.
Seized from the house of Nacario were one Akkar 12-gauge shotgun with 14 live ammunition and 16 ammunition for Cal. 5.56 rifle.
The raiders executed a search warrant for violation of Republic Act 10591 (Comprehensive Law on Firearms and Ammunition) issued by Regional Trial Court Judge Ellen Aguilar of Branch 70 in Burgos town.
Arrested by the police by virtue of another search warrant also issued by RTC Judge Aguilar was Rodolfo Fernandez, 40, of Barangay Dacap Norte, Bani which resulted in the seizure of a homemade 12-gauge shot gun with one live ammunition, four live ammunition for Cal. 38 and one live ammunition for Cal. 45.
Also arrested on the same day following a raid in his house in Barangay Panacol Aguilar was Eulogio Natolia, alias “Boy, 53.
Lawmen seized from the house of the suspect one Cal. 38 revolver with two live ammunition in its chamber.
All the confiscated firearms were brought to the PNP Crime Laboratory in Lingayen for forensic examination. The bullets of these firearms will also be cross matched with the bullets found in in earlier crime incidents in Pangasinan. lvmicua/PNA-northboundasia.com