PNP to work with FBI on US senator's ‘firearms conspiracy’

The Philippine National Police will coordinate with US law enforcement after a California state senator was arrested for allegedly conspiring to smuggle guns into the United States.

In a report on "24 Oras" aired Saturday, PNP spokesman Police Chief Superintendent Rueben Theodore Sindac said the police will work with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which he said is the lead agency in the investigation into California state senator Leland Yee.

The PNP has received a copy of the affidavit against Yee, Sindac said the police will treat it as just a lead for now.

"As long as there are no names mentioned, there are no specifics that will hold water in evidential value, we will just have to accept it as raw information and we will have to work on it from the bottom up," he said.

The Palace said Friday that the Armed Forces of the Philippines will investigate the possibility that Yee had contacts within the military.  

"Definitely, the department and the rest of the Armed Forces and the defense community does not tolerate those kinds of activities and if we are given information regarding that, then we'll definitely cooperate in any investigation," said DND spokesman Peter Galvez said in the "24 Oras" report Saturday.
 
According to an FBI affidavit, Yee was part of a conspiracy to deal firearms without a license and to illegally import firearms from a Muslim separatist group in the Philippines.
 
The Moro Islamic Liberation Front has already denied any dealings with Yee. — Rie Takumi/JDS, GMA News