Cops nab hired gun in Abra

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet  – An alleged leader of a group of hired guns in Abra, who has long been hunted for numerous murders, has fallen to the hands of authorities, police reported Tuesday.

Langiden town policemen cornered Perfecto Barbosa Purugganan, 36, alleged leader of the “Purugganan Private Armed Group” early dawn on January 25 in his lair in sitio Calunay, barangay Malapaao.

Purugganan, who is listed as number 9 in Abra’s “Most Wanted” for the first quarter of the year, was ordered arrested for violence against women and children and  drugs law violations by Judge Charito Gonzales of the Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 1.

The charges against him are bailable for P25,000 and P 200,000

Abra policemen also cornered the province’s 10th most wanted person, Norman Rabe Awigui, 34, in barangay Ba-i, Lagayan town. Awigui is wanted for child abuse.

Awigui was caught in his residence upon orders of  Judge Raphiel Alzate of the RTC Br 1.   - Artemio A. Dumlao