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[av_heading heading=’Bacolod gun smuggling suspect surrenders ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY TIFFANY ANNE TAN
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BACOLOD City – A suspected firearms smuggler who allegedly had a client planning to assassinate President Rodrigo Duterte turned himself in to the police.
Businessman Bryan Ta-ala faces a new gun smuggling charge, and this time he may no longer post bail.
He and aide Wilford Palma were arrested by Criminal Investigation and Detection Group operatives on Aug. 6 in Barangay Tangub. A balikbayan box loaded with P4.5 million worth of smuggled gun parts were seized from them.
They were charged with violation of Republic Act (RA) 10591, or the Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition Regulation Act. Ta-ala was able to post bail worth P200,000 and ordered released on Sept. 8.
The Department of Justice, upon the request of the Office of the Solicitor General’s Task Force Crusaders, reviewed the case.
On Oct. 28, the Justice department filed against Ta-ala a new charge for violation of Section 33 (arms smuggling) of RA 10591.
Regional Trial Court Judge Eduardo Sayson (Branch 54) issued the arrest warrant on Nov. 2, said Chief Inspector Jovil Sedel, Police Station 6 commander.
Sayson recommended no bail for Ta-ala’s temporary liberty, Sedel said.
Wielding a copy of his arrest warrant, Ta-ala surrendered to Police Station 6 on Tuesday.
His lawyer, Leon Moya, accompanied him, said Sedel.
Sedel refused to tell this reporter how Ta-ala got a copy of the warrant or if the suspect got served by the police.
Ta-ala was now detained at the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology facility in Barangay Handumanan.
RA 10591 defines arms smuggling as “the import, export, acquisition, sale, delivery, movement or transfer of firearms, their parts and components and ammunition, from or across the territory of one country to that of another country which has not been authorized in accordance with domestic law in either or both country/countries.”
If guilty, Ta-ala may be penalized with reclusion perpetua, or imprisonment for 20 to 40 years./PN
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