3 nabbed for selling refilled butane cans
Over P100,000 worth of refilled and empty butane canisters were seized in a joint operation conducted by the operatives of Criminal Investigation and Detection Group and Department of Energy in Central Visayas at the Mandaue City Public Market Wednesday afternoon.
Three persons were also arrested during the operation for violation of the Liquefied Petroleum Gas Industry Rules. The suspects were identified as Jugie Sabillo, 26, resident of Barangay Upper Canduman; Rafael Bongo, 23, resident of Barangay Poblacion Occidental; and Mark Lim, 18, resident of Barangay Centro, all in Mandaue City.
Police and DOE operatives seized 1, 255 refilled butane canisters and 2,976 empty canisters from Sabillo. There were also 60 filled canisters and 470 empty cans from Bongo while 184 and 15 filled and empty canisters, respectively, from Lim.
"Naay uban namaligya ngadto pero wala naman (naabtan) ang uban, pagkabantay dunay operation nanirado na," said Senior Police Officer 4 Willard C. Selibio, Deputy chief of CIDG Mandaue City Field Unit.
Selibio said those arrested were caught in the act of trading refilled butane canisters which is prohibited under the law. Selibio said the operation stemmed from the information relayed to them by a concerned citizen.
He said that refilling butane canisters with LPG is very dangerous because these might explode and cause fire considering that these are highly combustible when exposed to direct heat.
The canisters were turned over to the custody of DOE-Visayas Field Office while charges for violation of Batas Pambansa (BP) 33 as amended by Presidential Decree 1865 in relation to DOE circular 2014-01- 0001 are being prepared for filing against the three suspects. —
Shaira Nicole M. Ymbong, STC Comm Intern/FPL