A New Zealander helped Angeles City Police bust a gun-running ring who are known to sell guns to foreigners.
The 55-year-old retired police officer helped entrap the group, teaming up with the Pampanga Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in arresting 29-year-old Anjo Mark Quillopas while transacting with a tipster during a February sting operation.
The New Zealander’s name has not been revealed for safety reasons – but it was he who was offered a gun by Quillopas in January at a coffee shop outside Clark Freeport.
The ex-police officer reported the case to CIDG, which performed the entrapment operation.
The New Zealander said Quillopas tried to sell him a broom, a bolo knife and a samurai blade, but he jokingly replied that “those weapons were of no use because they cannot beat a gun.”
Quillopas then offered to sell him a .38 calibre revolver for 10,000 pesos, asking for a 500 peso deposit and contact information to process the transaction.
The suspect texted the expat three weeks later to alter the transaction, saying the weapon was a .45 calibre pistol worth 35,000 pesos.
The expat, who was then in Hong Kong for Chinese New Year, scheduled the sale for February 23, which he co-ordinated with the CIDG team.
The transaction of the gun was to take place in an apartment but the retired policeman persuaded Quillopas to bring the gun to a local gas station.
Quillopas met the expat at the gasoline station with three other men on motorcycles. The group boarded the expat’s car and showed him the pistol, this time it was a Cebu-made Shooters SAM Alpha .40 calibre pistol. The weapon was loaded.
As soon as the transaction took place, the CIDG operatives arrested Quillopas and the three other men – 49-year-old Marco Macasaquit, 43-year-ol Nilo Castro and 38-year-old Raymond de la Cruz.
The Pampanga CIDG also arrested Rodolfo Jomadia, a security guard who tried to sell a loaded .45 calibre pistol to a foreigner in front of Brettos Deli and Coffee Shop in Malabanias for 20,000 peso.
In November 3, 2014, the CIDG also arrested a salesman in Mabalacat City on charges he tried to sell a .357 Smith and Wesson to a foreigner for 20,000 pesos. It is believed that these and numerous others are all part of the same gunrunning ring in and around Angles City.