THE military said Wednesday that only two of the high-powered firearms, which the Philippine National Police (PNP) seized from an alleged gunrunning group leader, belong to the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
AFP Public Affairs Office (PAO) chief Edgar Arevalo said that based on the inventory conducted, only the M-16A1 rifle, which was issued to the defunct Philippine Constabulary Support Command Unit on July 8, 1982 and the M203 grenade launcher that was issued to the Service Support Command on May 22, 1990, came from the AFP arsenal.
He said AFP Chief of Staff has ordered the conduct of investigation on how the firearms got into the hands of the alleged gunrunning group.
"We will leave no stone unturned in this investigation and ensure that these unscrupulous acts will be stopped...and the perpetrators meted stiff punishments provided under the Articles of War particularly AW 85 as may be warranted by Court Martial," said Arevalo.
On Saturday, the PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) seized P6 million worth of high-powered firearms from the gunrunning group who are allegedly the suppliers of contraband of the Abu Sayyaf Group as well as the warlords and politicians in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
A cache of high-powered guns and ammunition were recovered from the residence of Unding Kenneth Isa, the alleged leader of the gun smuggling group in Barangay West Crame, San Juan City.
PNP chief Ronald Dela Rosa said the ammunition were traced back to the government arsenal, while the firearms were still being traced. (Sunnex)