2 gunrunners entrapped in Cotabato City

COTABATO CITY — A police team seized an M16 assault rifle from two alleged gunrunners long under surveillance for illegal peddling of firearms both entrapped in a Barangay Rosary Heights 1, Cotabato City on Wednesday afternoon.

Brig. Gen. Allan Nobleza, director of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, on Thursday said that Razul Compania and Eddie Wong, Jr. fell in a sting laid by operatives of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group with the help of the Cotabato City Police Office.

Citing a report from the Regional Field Office of the CIDG-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, Nobleza said that the duo yielded peacefully when police agents frisked and cuffed them after receiving P50,000 worth of cash as payment for an assault rifle and ammunition.

“The entrapment operation of the CIDG was based on reports by tipsters long aware of their illegal gun dealing activities,” Nobleza said.

He said Compania and Wong will be prosecuted for violation of Republic Act 10591 that prohibits possession, or sale of firearms and explosives without permission from the Philippine National Police.