CEBU CITY—High-powered firearms were seized from the chief tanod of a mountain barangay in Balamban town, western Cebu on Saturday, December 12.
Recovered from the house of Prudencio Baculi Jr. in Barangay Lamesa were an M16 rifle, a carbine rifle, a KG9 sub-machine gun, a hand grenade and various ammunition, said Police Maj. Ronald Tolosa, deputy chief for operations of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group-Central Visayas (CIDG 7).
It was around 5 a.m. when operatives of CIDG-Cebu Province raided the house of Baculi on the strength of a search warrant issued by Regional Trial Court Judge Ruben F. Altubar of Branch 29 in Toledo City.
Tolosa said there have been complaints from residents that an armed civilian person was roaming around in their barangay.
These reports of an armed person loitering in the barangay caused fears among the residents, said Tolosa.
“It was an old information but nobody dared to act on it,” said Tolosa.
The report eventually reached the CIDG-Cebu Province, which conducted weeks of monitoring to verify the complaints.
“The case was developed and after verification, it was found out that this person was not allowed to carry firearms. Maybe he thought he was allowed to carry firearms because he is a chief tanod,” said Tolosa.
The suspect did not resist arrest when police swooped down on his house.
Tolosa said the seized firearms will be subjected to ballistic examinations to check if they had been used in shooting incidents.
“We will conduct further investigation to find out why he was keeping those guns,” said Tolosa.