NBI arrests suspected destabilization plotters

NBI arrests suspected destabilization plotters

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has arrested six people linked to a supposed government destabilization plot.

Charged with illegal possession of firearms and explosives were Chinese businesswoman Lily Ong, Brandy Solinap, Victor dela Cruz, Diosdado Bohol, Bi-Eian Ke and Ke Quiao Li. According to NBI deputy director Vicente de Guzman Jr., NBI operatives and troops from the Army’s 80th Infantry Battalion seized a cache of high powered firearms from the suspects during the raid on a six-hectare farm in Barangay Dalig, Teresa, Rizal on Tuesday. Lt. Col. Melencio Ragudo has linked the arrested individuals to the communist New People’s Army (NPA), citing surveillance operations showing the suspects were often visited by known rebel leaders in the region. The NBI, for its part, said their operation in Teresa was in connection with a complaint of a businessman against Ong and company for death threats arising from a land dispute.