By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

A tricycle operator was arrested late Tuesday night after La Castellana Police Station personnel caught him carrying a firearm along Feria Street in the town’s Barangay Robles.

Police identified the suspect as 31-year-old Eric Flores, a resident of the town’s Barangay Sag-ang.

La Castellana municipal police chief, Police Chief Inspector Robert Dejucos, said they were conducting a checkpoint in the area when they flagged down Flores’ tricycle.

Upon inspection, Flores reportedly grew “uneasy and terrified,” which aroused the suspicion of the cops.

Police asked for his driver’s license but he was unable to produce one.

When Flores raised his jacket, police noticed a steel object on his waist and immediately questioned him on what it was, which he allegedly identified as a knife.

However, one of the officers took the object and found it was a loaded .38 caliber improvised firearm.

Cops arrested Flores on the spot.

The suspect is presently facing charges of illegal possession of firearms as well as violations to the Commission on Elections gun ban./DGB, WDJ