By Alexander Lopez
BUTUAN CITY – Three suspects were arrested during a synchronized anti-illegal operations conducted by the Surigao del Sur Police Provincial Office (SDSPPO) on Thursday.
In a statement on Friday, the SDSPPO said the raids were conducted jointly with personnel from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the Mines and Geosciences Bureau in the towns of Tagbina and Lingig.
“The operation in Tagbina was conducted in Purok 1, Barangay Manamba, where a suspect, identified as alias Ron, the chief barangay tanod, was arrested,” SDSPPO director Col. Jeffrey Lawrence Mauricio said in the statement.
He added that authorities also confiscated tools and equipment from the illegal mining site, valued at PHP142,000, including six water pumps, 16 sluice mats, gold pans, manual digging tools and one basin of bottles containing fine gold dust and sand.
The second operation in Lingig resulted in the arrest of two suspects, alias Jojo, a resident of Barangay Zion in the same town, and alias Lito, of Monkayo, Davao de Oro.
Confiscated from the suspects were two industrial rod mills, a Yanmar diesel engine, electric jackhammer, submersible pump, agrinder, 20 sacks of gouge materials and 375 board feet of Uluyan lumber, with a total value of PHP253,250.
Mauricio said suspects will face charges for violating Republic Act No. 7942, the Philippine Mining Act of 1995. (PNA)
