InterAksyon.com
The online news portal of TV5
MANILA, Philippines -- The Philippine National Police is verifying reports a pistol it issued ended up in the hands of suspected Indonesian terrorists.
A report in the English-language Jakarta Post quoted the civil society group Indonesia Police Watch as saying a Beretta pistol seized from one of three suspected terrorists in Java was marked “Property Philippine National Police.”
Two of the suspects died and the last one was captured when they shot it out with policemen moving to arrest them at a food stall.
The IPW urged Indonesian police to launch a joint investigation with the PNP.
Sought for comment, Chief Superintendent Generoso Cerbo Jr., PNP spokesman, said
they have yet to verify the veracity of the report, which he described as “sketchy.
If the report is true, he said, there could be three explanations for how the pistol ended up in Indonesia: the weapon was sold, it was seized during an encounter, or it was stolen from the PNPO.
Cerbo said they would need to acquire the serial number of the firearm to find out who it had been issued to.
OTHER NATIONAL STORIES
