Slain police chief’s gun seized from arrested rebel leader – Army

By Glazyl Y. Masculino

 

BACOLOD City – The Army’s 303rd Infantry Brigade (IBde) reported on Tuesday that a Glock Pistol firearm owned by a slain police chief in Guihulngan City, Negros Oriental was recovered from an alleged leader of the New People’s Army (NPA), who was arrested in the said city over the weekend.

This, after the investigation team of the Negros Oriental Police Provincial Office (Norppo) released the firearm verification result on Tuesday, indicating that the Glock Pistol was personally purchased and owned by the late Lieutenant Colonel Arnel Arpon, former police chief of Guihulngan City Police Station.

Arpon and five other policemen were killed in an ambush staged by the NPA when they responded to a call for assistance at Barangay Magsaysay in July 2017.

Arpon’s firearm (with markings Made in USA, GLOCK INC. SMYRNA.GA with serial number AAAN274) was recovered from Adidas Acero, vice commanding officer of Leonardo Panaligan Command (LPC).

Acero and his wife were nabbed for illegal possession of explosives, and illegal possession of firearm and ammunition at Barangay Buenavista last Saturday.

With the recent development, the Army believed that it could aggravate and bolster the case against Acero and his wife, Nona Espinosa-Acero, including their seven other alleged cohorts, who were also arrested last Saturday.

The Army believed that these individuals were part of the NPA team who brutally murdered the policemen led by Arpon three years ago.

“This is clear evidence that they were behind the bloody ambush. They can’t deny the truth,” the Army, said in a press release.

Colonel Inocencio Pasaporte, 303rd IBde commander, said in a statement that, “three years after the bloody massacre of the brave policemen, justice is on its way and the NPAs led by the Acero couple will be made answerable for this heinous incident.”