ILOILO CITY: The Police Regional Office 6 (PRO-6) has reported significant progress in its campaign for a gun-free Western Visayas following the confiscation of 998 loose firearms during the first quarter of this year.

The crackdown against illegal firearms is part of "Tokhang Kontra Armas Luthang," a PRO-6 initiative aiming to account for loose firearms and firearms with expired licenses, neutralize private armed groups, riding-in-tandem suspects, and gun-for-hire groups.

Of the illegal firearms confiscated, 189 were seized through the iron-hand approach or strict law enforcement through focused police operations.

The remaining 809 were recovered using the soft hand approach, which includes deposited, abandoned and surrendered firearms.

Apart from the significant haul in loose firearms, police authorities also confiscated 122 explosives and arrested 182 individuals.

PRO-6 reported that of the explosives recovered, eight were confiscated through the iron-hand approach and 114 through the soft hand approach.

Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office (Nocppo) stood at the forefront of the operation with 329 seizures, followed by the Iloilo Police Provincial Office (IPPO) with 188, and the Antique Police Provincial Office with 105 seizures.

Nocppo also had the greatest number of explosive recoveries and arrests of individuals with 35 and 68, respectively. IPPO followed closely with 32 explosive recoveries and arrests of 45 individuals.

PRO-6 director BGen. Jack Wanky has urged local police officials to heighten their operations to account for remaining loose firearms to prevent its misuse in criminal activities.

"This would be a significant matter if we could retrieve firearms from unauthorized individuals because it would reduce the instruments which they could use in committing any kind of crime," added Wanky.