Abra SBM in hiding for seized illegal assault rifle during raid

March 13, 2022 Provincial

Pilar, Abra Sangguniang Bayan member George Dela Rosa Sotelo has remained in hiding after an Abra court ordered him arrested in connection with an assault rifle seized during a raid at his home in October last year.
His arrest is not directly linked to the killing of government lady physician Amor Trina Dait, 53, killed from an M16 rifle in September last year in Pilar town as earlier reported, government records show.
No return of Warrant of Arrest (WOA) yet has been processed by the Regional Trial Court Branch 1 of Bangued, Abra, proving the hunted official had remained on the run for illegal firearms raps.
RTC Judge Bonhoeffer Vergara Bernardez ordered law enforcement agencies on February 18, 2022, to catch SBM Sotelo for violating the law of legal possession of firearms. The suit is unbailable.
Policemen tried to serve the WOA issued by Judge Bernardez on the last week of February but failed to locate him at his house where on October 2021, an Elisco-made caliber M16A1 baby Armalite rifle with serial number 113054; four long and three magazines for the rifle; one hundred thirty-four rounds for the rifle; a caliber 45, M1911 pistol marked US ARMY with serial number 11001; three magazine assemblies for caliber 45 pistols; twenty bullets for caliber 45; a Llama-made caliber 9MM pistol with serial number 940296; a magazine assembly for caliber 9MM; five bullets for 9mm pistol; two long magazines for US carbine rifle; two short magazines for carbine rifle; and thirteen bullets for the rifle were seized.
Beside the SBM’s house was bis cousin’s — Pilar municipal employee Ferdinand Sape de la Rosa- house where another hydra caliber 5.56mm rifle (M16) with serial 3406162; another defaced caliber 5.56mm assault rifle; two long magazine assemblies for caliber 5.56mm rifle; another short magazine assembly for caliber 5.56mm; and seventy-one bullets for the same rifle were seized.
Another caliber 45 Colt pistol 45 with magazine without serial number was seized from the house of SBM Sotelo’s other cousin — Paterno Castilla Sotelo.
Artemio A. Dumlao/ABN