Authorities discovered an assortment of firearms and ammunition hidden in a remote part of the mountain village here Monday afternoon.
According to the police’s City Mobile Force Company (CMFC), the stash was found by a resident hidden in a clump of bamboos near the paved road in Sitio Salimbal, Barangay Tignapoloan.
Lt. Col. Alfredo Ortiz, CMFC force commander, said in an interview Tuesday his team discovered an improvised shotgun, a .45 caliber sidearm, a rusty .38 caliber revolver handgun, three retractable rifle grenades, six 20-gauge live shot pellets, and six caliber .38 cartridges.
“A resident stumbled upon the weapons when he saw the barrel of a shotgun protruding from the sack. He reported it right away to village officials, who in turn informed us,” he said.
Ortiz said the rifle grenades, with canisters, appear to be new, although investigators have yet to determine if these were issued to the Philippine National Police (PNP) or to the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
“There was no marking indicating if these rifle grenades belong to the PNP or the AFP,” he said, but added that the PNP’s mobile forces usually use that type of rifle grenades.
Ortiz said they will have to trace where the rifle grenades came from as these bore markings of its manufacturers.
The police, he said, also have yet to verify if these weapons fell into the hands of the New People’s Army (NPA) or had been owned by a civilian.
NPA fighters had been known in the past to traverse the road from Bukidnon to Lanao del Norte by way of Tignapoloan.
Residents have also reported sightings of armed groups passing through the village in previous years.
“The sack that contained the firearms and ammunition were not buried, meaning, the owner did not intend to hide it for a long time, but to retrieve it later,” Ortiz said.
He said the police are appealing to residents not to hesitate to report any suspicious persons or objects to local authorities.
Source: Philippines News Agency
