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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Why police are aggressive in hunting down wanted fugitives

Why police are aggressive in hunting down wanted fugitives

Published Dec 24, 2025 12:10 pm
When police raided a safehouse in Abra de Ilog in Occidental Mindoro over loose firearms and ammunition for various firearms, they arrested a man who is believed to be connected to a criminal group that supplies guns to criminal elements.
And when a background check was conducted, it turned out that the arrested person is a wanted fugitive facing a non-bailable case of murder and four counts of frustrated murder issued by a local court in Occidental Mindoro.
The arrest, according to acting Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Lt. Gen. Jose Melencio C. Nartatez, Jr. reinforced the result of crime analyses that most of the wanted fugitives are repeat offenders, or those involved in multiple violations of the law.
“This is the reason why we have been focusing on strategic operations to account for all these fugitives, particularly those in the most wanted list from municipal to national levels,” said Nartatez.
“Our aggressive operations against fugitives from the law come with equal efforts to account for loose firearms as these are usually the instruments in committing crimes,” he added.
The operation was carried out by operatives of the PNP’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, Philippine Army and Philippine Coast Guard on Dec. 22 in Sitio Pamikalan, Barangay San Vicente in Abra de Ilog.
Among those seized were two handguns, various magazines and bullets for different calibres of firearms and other equipment.
Nartatez said the raided area was monitored to be a storage area for loose firearms, ammunition and other tactical operation equipment and investigation is ongoing to determine why the suspect has been keeping firearms and ammunition.
He said he already ordered a thorough investigation to determine if the arrested suspect is involved in various criminal activities, including gun-running activities.
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