• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Policemen arrested 14 persons in Negros Occidental, as a result of their intensified drive against the proliferation of firearms from May 1 to 15, according to reports of the Police Regional Office 6.
The 14 arrested suspects in Negros Occidental were among the 31 violators accounted for by the police in Western Visayas. It also resulted in the confiscation of 35 assorted guns with ammunition and two explosives, under its “ iron hand” campaign approach.
In a statement, regional police spokesman Lt. Col. Arnel Solis said that eight other suspects were arrested by the Iloilo Police Provincial Office, five by the Capiz Police Provincial Office, and one each for the Aklan Police Provincial Office, Iloilo, and Bacolod City Police Offices, as well as Regional Mobile Force Battalion 6.
On the ‘soft hand approach’, Solis disclosed that a total of 182 assorted firearms and 23 explosives were surrendered and deposited to various police stations across the region.
PBrig. Gen. Jack Wanky, regional police director of Western Visayas, lauded the efforts of the concerned police units in the accounting of loose firearms, as he rallied them to continue their campaign without let-up.*