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John Unson - Philstar.com
December 25, 2025 | 5:12pm
Among the illegal items seized from Larry Tan Nebres Jr. were long firecrackers fused together, known as a "Judas Belt," which explode one after another when ignited.
Photo courtesy of Philstar.com / John Unson
COTABATO CITY — Policemen seized P500,000 worth of assorted firecrackers and pyrotechnics from an illegal dealer who was apprehended in Barangay Camino Nuevo, Zamboanga City, on the morning of Wednesday, December 24.
Radio reports in Cotabato City on Thursday, December 25, stated that combined operatives from the City Investigation and Detective Management Unit in Zamboanga City, led by Police Major Chester Natividad and personnel of units under the Police Regional Office 9 immediately detained the trader Larry Tan Nebres Jr. after selling to them his illegal merchandise during a tradeoff along the Mayor Vitaliano Agan Avenue in Barangay Camino Nuevo.
Local executives and senior officials of PRO-9 were quoted in radio reports as saying that Nebres was selling firecrackers and pyrotechnics in Barangay Camino Nuevo without permits from the office of the mayor in Zamboanga City and from government agencies regulating the production and sale of such considerably hazardous products.
The entrapment operation that led to the detention of Nebres was based on reports from tipsters about his large-scale illegal peddling of firecrackers and pyrotechnics in Zamboanga City, as well as his contacts in nearby Basilan, one of the five provinces in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
The firecrackers and pyrotechnics, valued at no less than P500,000, have been taken into custody by the Zamboanga City Police Office.
PRO-9 officials said Nebres will be prosecuted for violating Republic Act 7183, which regulates the production and sale of pyrotechnics and firecrackers across all regions of the country.
