Chinese traders charged with illegal possession of firearm

Two Chinese businessmen who would have been accosted for a simple traffic violation were arrested over the weekend and charged with illegal possession of firearm.

The Quezon City Police District-Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit charged Paul Lee, 35, and Alex Ang, 42, and companion Jose Francisco, 33, for illegally carrying a caliber .22 Colt handgun Sunday morning.

Superintendent Franklin Moises Mabanag, chief of the QCPD-CIDU, said the manager at a restaurant on Timog Avenue where the suspects were eating called up the police to report about the “suspicious-looking” customers.

Operatives of the QCPD-Mobile Patrol Unit responded and later found out that the rear plate of the Toyota Vios (XNB-132) they parked outside of the establishment was cut.

The policemen asked for the documents of the car, which didn’t have a 2008 registration sticker, when the suspects came out of the restaurant.

The police noticed a handgun inside the dashboard compartment when Lee opened the car to get the documents. The handgun did not have a serial number.

The three were charged with violation of PD1866 as amended by RA 8294. – Reinir Padua