A suspected member of a private armed group (PAG) in Negros Oriental’s Bayawan City was arrested over the weekend after yielding illegal firearms, ammunition and suspected shabu.

A report from the Negros Oriental Police Provincial Office (NOPPO) said authorities nabbed Menjie Tapos Barte, 41 years old, of Sitio Mansilong in Bayawan’s Barangay Pagatban on Sunday, September 10, after receiving a tip about the presence of an armed person in the area.

Barte is being linked to the June 28 murder of an event host Jhonar Barrios in the city’s Barangay Malabugas.

Barte yielded two caliber .45 pistols, two magazines, 13 live rounds of ammunition, a motorcycle, and other items.

Also seized from the suspect were four plastic sachets containing suspected shabu weighing more or less 20 grams with an estimated street price of P136,000.

Lt. Stephen Polinar, deputy chief of NOPPO’s Police Community Affairs and Development Unit, said Barte is also linked to other previous killings in Negros Oriental and has alleged connections to PAG members who were either shot dead or arrested earlier.

Barte will be charged with violation of the Commission on Elections gun ban, Republic Act (RA) 10591 or the Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition Act, and RA 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act. (PNA)