2 suspected gunrunners yield hand guns, bullets

MANILA, Philippines – Northern-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group agents arrested two suspected members of a gun-running syndicate during an operation Tuesday afternoon in Valenzuela City.

Chief Inspector Ruben Lacuesta, Northern-CIDG chief, identified the suspects as Roque Gubat, 28, and Michele Dayo, 37, both residents of Meycauayan, Bulacan.

The cops confiscated from them a blue bag that contained a .9mm and .25 caliber pistols with bullets. “The guns are both original, which could mean the suspects are no small-time dealers,” Lacuesta told The STAR yesterday.

Lacuesta received a report earlier that a certain Boy Daga, a notorious gun dealer, was about to deliver guns to a buyer somewhere in Valenzuela City Tuesday afternoon. A team, composed of SPO2 Edwin Anaviso, SPO1 Alejandro Abrogar Jr., PO2 Rolando Blones, PO2 Glicerio Encela and PO2 Glenn Umali, was sent to Barangay Malanday in Valenzuela City to entrap the gun dealer.

The operatives waited for the suspect to surface on a pre-arranged area along MacArthur Highway in Barangay Malanday. At around 4 p.m., a man and a woman approached the unmarked car of the cops and handed them a blue bag that contained the firearms.

The suspects were apprehended with the guns but the real target, Boy Daga, evaded arrest. “Boy Daga is clever but with the arrest of his two underlings, we will soon get him,” Lacuesta said.