Fool’s gold leads to arrest of 4

PORAC, Pampanga — A buy-bust operation for a fake gold bar led to the arrest of four suspects in Barangay Manuali of this town last Sunday, 16 March.

According to the Police Regional Office 3 (PRO3), the Porac Municipal Police Station (MPS) arrested Eva, Dex, Arjay, and Ted during the buy-bust operation.

PRO3 cited that the four suspects are involved in Estafa (Swindling), Attempted Murder, violations of RA 10591 (Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition Regulation Act), RA 9516 (Illegal Possession of Explosives), and the Comelec Omnibus Election Code.

During the operation, some of the armed suspects suddenly opened fire on the police operatives, prompting them to respond and restrain the attackers.

Authorities recovered several pieces of evidence from the scene, including a fake gold bar, marked money consisting of genuine bills and boodle money, a .38 caliber revolver with fired cartridge casing and live ammunition, an improvised shotgun with fired shotshell and live shells, a fragmentation grenade, a jungle bolo, and three motorcycles, one of which had a "kolong-kolong" sidecar.

Further investigation linked the suspects to a stabbing incident that took place on 11 March, at the same location. The victim, identified as “Edgar,” 55, was fatally stabbed after allegedly refusing to pay for undelivered gold.