PNP official: License of Llamas' AK-47 rifle revoked

(Updated 4:30 a.m.) The license of the controversial AK-47 assault rifle issued to presidential political adviser Ronald Llamas has been revoked, a police official said Thursday. Philippine National Police spokesman Chief Supt. Agrimero Cruz Jr. said the license has been recalled because the gun is a subject of an ongoing investigation. Cruz said the gun will be surrendered to the Quezon City Police District anytime Thursday, adding that criminal charges will be filled against four security aides of Llamas. While Llamas was out of the country, his aides were caught last week carrying an AK-47 assault rifle registered in his name. Earlier reports said Llamas admitted he owned the gun which he acquired after threats to his life. An earlier statement of the Office of the Political Adviser, bodyguards Joey Tecson and John Alarcon may have used Llamas' vehicle, where the gun was found, for personal purposes. The two were instructed to use the vehicle to go to Llamas' house and secure it during his absence, but the vehicle figured in a road accident. According to the OPA, the firearm seen in the video footage taken at the accident scene was registered and covered by a valid license. Palace on revocation Malacañang later on Thursday took lightly the revocation Llamas' permit to carry his AK-47. “Then he can no longer carry (the firearm)," a laughing presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda told reporters at press briefing. “Obviously when you revoke a permit to carry, moving forward he cannot be allowed to carry outside the premises (of his house)," he added. He believed it will not compromise the security of Llamas, who claimed receiving credible threats to his life. For his part, Llamas said: “I agree [with the revocation] because it’s part of the investigation of my two former staff. They revoked it on that basis," he said in a text message to GMA News Online. Llamas came under fire when the AK-47 was found under the driver’s seat of his car which got involved in an accident last Friday. At the time, he was in Geneva, Switzerland attending the executive meeting of the United Nations High Commission on Refugees. — with a report by Amita O. Legaspi/LBG, GMA News