Police arrested seven people for allegedly engaging in unauthorized small-scale mining in a mountainous area of San Andres town in Catanduanes.
The suspects were arrested in Barangay Cabungahan and were caught with six shovels, six digging bars, six flashlights, five pairs of gloves, three wooden gold-panning pans, and three wooden sluice box separators by personnel of the San Andres Municipal Police Station and the 1st Provincial Mobile Force Company, said Police Lt. Col. Maria Luisa Calubaquib, spokesperson of the Bicol Regional Police Office.
A plastic bottle containing 0.5 gram of suspected gold, worth an estimated P800, was also recovered.
Police also seized a bolo, a pair of goggles, two empty glass bottles, and an empty plastic bottle. The items were valued at about P4,500, Calubaquib said.
The suspects are in the custody of the San Andres police for proper disposition.
Calubaquib said the suspects would be charged with violating Republic Act No. 7076, or the People’s Small-Scale Mining Act of 1991. The law regulates small-scale mining operations and penalizes unauthorized mining activities.