What began as an operation to capture New People’s Army (NPA) assassins ended with joint police and military operatives discovering the arsenal of the rebel group in Jala-Jala, Rizal, a regional police commander said Tuesday.

Chief Superintendent Perfecto Palad, director of the Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon) Regional Police, said the operation also resulted in the arrest of Virgilio Jocson who is believed to be the contact of the rebels in the area.

Palad said police and military operatives from the Rizal Provincial Mobile Group and the 16th Infantry Battalion were immediately deployed to Barangay Bagumbong in Jala-Jala town at around 11 p.m. on Monday after they were tipped of the presence of the NPA liquidation squad in the area.

“Further information revealed that said armed men belonging to KLG (Kilusang Larangang Gerilya) 53 operating in the towns of Jala-jala, Mabitac, Sta. Maria, were out to liquidate police and military officials in the area,” said Palad.

Security forces then spotted the small group of NPA men in Sitio Lumang Nayon but no encounter occurred as the latter immediately scampered away with some of them allegedly seeking refuge in the house of Jocson.

As the soldiers swooped down on the house of Jocson, they chanced upon several handguns and high-powered firearms believed to be owned by the local communist rebels.

Seized were two M16 rifles, seven 12-gauge shotguns, three caliber .22 rifles, four caliber .38 revolvers, an air shotgun, two reloading machines, assorted rounds of ammunition for caliber 50, caliber 30, caliber 7.62 mm. 5. 56 mm, .32 mm, 12-gauge, rifle grenade, 40 mm, two binoculars, and assorted gun powder for reloading.

Jocson, 49, was immediately arrested and taken to headquarters of the Rizal Provincial Mobile Group. However, the rebels, on the other hand, managed to elude arrest.

Meanwhile, soldiers seized on Monday an abandoned NPA camp in Sitio Taprang-Taprang, B0arangay San Miguel, Panganiban, Catanduanes.

Capt. Razaliegh Bansawan, 901st Army Brigade spokesman, said a platoon of the Army 83rd Infantry Battalion, led by 1st Lt. Alex Parohinog, stumbled on a newly abandoned NPA camp at around 10 a.m. with the help of concerned residents in the area providing information to the troopers about the presence of the camp.