CEBU CITY—At least 20 homemade firearms were seized from a man described by the police as a notorious gun runner in Danao City, northern Cebu.
Ahmed Martel was arrested in a buy-bust operation in Barangay Guinsay, Danao last Thursday night, said Police Maj. Theresa Macatangay, chief of the Danao City police.
Seized from the suspect were 15 9mm caliber pistols, two shotguns, two .38 revolvers and one .45 caliber pistol.
The seized firearms were worth P158,000, Macatangay said.
Police found out that six of the 9mm pistols bore serial numbers that were copied from licensed firearms owned by a security agency in Koronadal City in Mindanao.
“Copying serial numbers is an illegal practice meant to save on the cost for applying gun licenses. We will run after these security agencies involved in this kind of modus,” said Police Brig. Gen. Albert Ignatius Ferro, chief of the Police Regional Office Central Visayas.
Ferro said they have been receiving reports that some security agencies are using “paltik” firearms with serial numbers assigned to licensed firearms.
“We are warning security agencies that your police are not sleeping on their job. Be very, very careful because we will file cases if we catch you engaging in this kind of illegal activity,” said Ferro.
The six firearms also had “Armscor” markings.
But Joel Antonio Concepcion, vice president and general manager of Arms, said the seized firearms were not owned by the company.
“Even by looking at it from a distance, you can already tell that they were not our products,” said Concepcion.
Ferro commended the Danao police for the successful operation.
“This is a good catch because this will stop the criminal intent of syndicates. The absence of serial numbers is an indication that the firearms will be used for illegal activities,” said Ferro.