Vendor nabbed for gun possession

CEBU, Philippines - A 38-year-old cigarette vendor was arrested for possession of an unlicensed .38 revolver during a checkpoint along Natalio Bacalso Avenue early morning yesterday.

Virgilio Neri Taboada, of Sitio Zafra, Talisay City was arrested by the elements of Mambaling Police Station for violation of COMELEC gun ban and was charged before the Cebu City Prosecutor’s Office.

The police were conducting a checkpoint near the Bureau of Internal Revenue south district office when they flagged down the taxi cab hired by the suspect and his brother.

Taboada however denied he owns the gun, saying it might be owned by his brother as it was recovered under the seat of the taxi.

But barangay tanods of Duljo Fatima claimed they have earlier seen the suspect tucking the revolver in his waist while he was looking for barangay tanod Zaldy Racaza.

Meanwhile, Mambaling police also filed a charge for violation of COMELEC gun ban against 22-year-old Alexis Rosales, a resident of Duljo Fatima after he was arrested for possessing a .38 revolver last Saturday.

Rosales was the suspect in the shooting of the windshield of the service vehicle of Mambaling Police Station while the police officers were responding to a shooting alarm last Saturday in Alaska, Mambaling. — Ramil V. Ayuman/WAB  (FREEMAN NEWS)