PNP to conduct probe on arms cache, source

LEGAZPI CITY --- Police BGen. Anthony Alcaneses ,Bicol police chief, has directed an investigation of the arms and ammunition cache found by a civilian in an abandoned house in Bulan, Sorsogon on Saturday, June 27.

Police personnel who were dispatched to recover the cache of arms and ammunition found out that the firearms and boxes of ammunition were reportedly government issued based on inspection and photographs.

Alcaneses said “we will be conducting an investigation in order to determine its source.”

Police investigators are still determining based on the serial numbers of the firearms and control numbers of the ammunition boxes whether the hoard came from the Philippine National Police (PNP) or the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

The Bicol police chief said he is not discounting the possibility that the arms cache belonged to a group of New People Army (NPA) rebels operating in Sorsogon province.

“There is a likelihood that the rebels may have acquire it during raids and ambuscades,” he said,

Alcañeses said they recovered 10 M16 rifles, 64 boxes each containing 40 pieces of ammunition used for AK-47 rifles, and 21 boxes of M16 ammunition hidden at an abandoned house in Sitio Angas in Barangay Otavi, Bulan town at around 10:00 AM on June 27.