A man who introduced himself as a freelance journalist was arrested Saturday night for carrying an unlicensed handgun inside the Sofitel Philippine Plaza Manila hotel, a five-star hotel in Pasay where guests for the 31st Asean Summit and Related Meeting are staying.
Police held Jeffrey Datuin at the lobby of the hotel, which is inside the CCP Complex, at around 3p.m. Saturday, after security personnel monitoring the X-ray scanning machine at the entrance detected an improvised .22-caliber revolver.
When he was stopped by police officers deployed there as part of Asean security, the suspect voluntarily took out a green canister containing the revolver and eight rounds of ammunition inside his backpack.
PO1 Adrian Jack Araneta, a member of the Makati City Police Station who is deployed as part of Asean security in the hotel, said Datuin did not know how the gun found its way in his bag.
The suspect said the gun was given by his uncle to his father. Datuin was not able to present proper documents for the revolver, which had no serial number.