BACOLOD City – Police raided a house in Barangay East, Candoni, Negros Occidental, leading to the recovery of ammunition and suspected drugs.
The house was owned by the 40-year-old Reynaldo “Nonoy” Benitez, a surrenderee under the Philippine National Police’s “Oplan Tokhang,” a police report showed.
Joint personnel from the Provincial Drug Enforcement Unit led by Chief Inspector Rogelio Pacificar Jr., Provincial Intelligence Unit led by Chief Inspector Benedick Poblete, 1st and 2nd Negros Occidental Police Mobile Force Companies led by Superintendent Robert Lingbawan, and the Candoni municipal police station led by Senior Inspector Celjun Nemenio staged the operation around 7 a.m. on Oct. 25.
They were armed with a search warrant issued by Judge Condrado Esteller of the Municipal Trial Court Ilog-Candoni.
Recovered from Benitez’s house were 40 live bullets of a .38-caliber pistol, five live bullets of a 5.56-mm rifle, two sachets of suspected shabu, a tooter, a lighter, three sachets with traces of suspected shabu, and an ammunition box, police said.
The following day, Benitez was nabbed on the strength of an arrest warrant that Judge Dyna Doll Chiongson-Trocio of the Regional Trial Court Branch 40 in Silay City, Negros Occidental issued on Aug. 13.
Now detained, Benitez faces charges for violation of Republic Act 10591 (Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition Regulation Act) and Republic Act 9165 (Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002)./PN
