Car error leads cops to guns, drugs
To unsuspecting motorists, a white Nissan hatchback that had bogged down by the roadside at the South Road Properties in Cebu City yesterday morning appeared to be just an ordinary case of a vehicle experiencing engine trouble.
It turned to be an otherwise uncommon incident as police, who were conducting roving patrol nearby, found out that the car was actually carrying a cache of firearms and illegal drugs.
The driver, identified as Fredie Bart Fulache, 30, could not present documents showing that the guns, some of which high-powered, were legally possessed.
Members of the Mobile Patrol Group (MPG) approached Fulache, a resident of Sitio Silangan, Barangay Tejero in Cebu City, at around 9 a.m. yesterday supposedly to help him with his car breakdown.
Fulache was asked to disembark from his vehicle so the police can inspect his car. But when he did so, the officers noticed a .45 caliber firearm tucked to his waist, prompting them to further check his belongings.
“Bisag kinsa makakita magduda gyud. Pagtan-aw nako sa luyo daghan og bag. Unya paggawas ana niya, nakita nako nisiwil iya armas (He was really suspicious.
When I checked the back portion of the car, there were many bags. And when he alighted from the car, his gun was sticking out from his waist),” said Police Officer 2 Alvin Estopa, arresting officer from the MPG.
Police recovered two sub-machine guns, a .375 and a .45 caliber firearms, and a total of 53 bullets from Fulache’s car. The presence of these guns and ammunition prompted the police to theorize that the suspect could be a gun-for-hire.
The officers were also able to find P620 in cash and a notebook bearing dates and amounts of money from the car, sparking suspicions that the suspect may have also been involved in the illegal drug trade.
Aside from the different firearms, authorities also fished out a medium sachet of suspected shabu weighing not more than five grams from the vehicle. The drugs had an estimated value of P59,000.
At the MPG headquarters where Fulache was taken, he denied all the allegations hurled against him.
“Wala ko kahibaw ana. Di na akoa (I know nothing about this. The guns are not mine),” said Fulache. He did not answer further questions from the media.
Despite the denial, police are still determined to file criminal complaints for possession of illegal drugs and firearms against the suspect.
Chief Inspector Christopher Navida, chief of the City Intelligence Branch, said that based on their initial investigation, the suspect has been in and out of jail for three different cases.
He served jail time thrice – for cases of possession of illegal drugs and unlicensed firearms and frustrated parricide – in three separate correctional facilities, namely Cebu City Jail (previously the Bagong Buhay Rehabilitation Center), the National Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City, and Iwahig Prison and Penal Farm in Puerto Princesa City in Palawan.
Navida said the suspect may be targeting competitors in the illegal drug trade. But he clarified that the police are yet to check if he is connected to any known drug personality.
Navida added that it is possible that the suspect enforced his network of illegal drugs after he served jail time.
“Considering na may nakuha tayong ledger, we will conduct follow-up operations. Yung connection niya sa loob based sa revelation niya, kinukuha niya lang dun sa (Bagong Buhay Rehabilitation Center),” Navida said.
Police will subject Fulache to further debriefing to extract more information from him.