Cops probe source of ammo cache

The Central Police District is investigating the possible origin of a cache of military explosives and ammunition abandoned by unidentified men in Barangay Holy Spirit in Quezon City last Friday.

CPD director Senior Superintendent Nicasio Radovan said he has ordered the Explosives and Ordance Division to check if the cache was from the military’s arsenal.

"We are still checking if these were military issued," Radovan said in a phone interview.

The CPD chief also refused to say if the ammunition and explosives were intended to be used by terrorists or other anti-government forces.

"We have not yet identified any group. I don’t think this has something to do with any distabilzation plot," he said.

In a report to the CPD chief Superintendent Raymundo Equibal, Batasan Hills police station commander, said the explosives and assorted ammunition were found inside a blue cardboard box which was left behind by three unidentified men at a vacant lot along Sampaguita Avenue corner Cerillo street in Barangay Holy Spirit.

Equibal said that prior to the discovery of the cache, Senior Police Officer 4 Wilfredo Cara, desk officer of Station 6 Police Community Precinct 5 was informed at about 10:35 a.m. by a concerned citizen about a suspcious looking man carrying a box along Sampaguita Avenue.

When a team of policemen, led by Inspector Roldante Sarmiento, arrived at the scene, three unidentified men scampered away from the scene abandoning the box.

A check of the box showed that it contained 10 boxes of composition 4 (C4) block demolition charge M112, 360 pieces of M-14 rifle bullets and 560 caliber .30 machinegun bullets.

Radovan said that the discovery of the cache proves the alertness of the Quezon City police as well as the close coordination between police and the community.

"We are on alert and the discovery (of the box) proves it. It also shows how coordinated is the police and the community, as a concerned resident was the one who tipped us about it," he said.