MNLF commander in Lanao Sur nabbed for drugs, illegal firearms
COTABATO CITY, Philippines – Anti-narcotics agents have arrested a commander of the Moro National Liberation Front associated with Nur Misuari and seized from him P300,000 worth of shabu or methamphetamine hydrochloride along with seven high-powered assault weapons, police said.
Felimon Ruiz, regional director of Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, identified the suspect as Mamintal Ali who was caught in possession of several sachets of shabu, six assault rifles and a .60-caliber machine gun during a pre-dawn raid Sunday on his home in Picong, Lanao del Sur.
Ruiz said the raid, authorized by a search warrant, was conducted after a PDEA agent posing as a buyer managed to buy shabu from Ali. He said Ali put up no resistance.
Ruiz said Ali is a Lanao del Sur-based commander of an MNLF faction led by Misuari. He could not say, however, if Ali and his followers had taken part in the fighting in Zamboanga City last October that the military said was initiated by followers of Misuari, the MNLF founder.
Arrested with Ali was a militiaman named Alinor Sampurna, Ruiz said.
Ruiz said Ali was No. 3 on the PDEA’s list of wanted persons.
“Ali was armed to the teeth but he did not resist,” Ruiz said, adding that the raid was carried out after two weeks of surveillance.
He lauded village officials for providing the information to PDEA agents.
Aside from the shabu, the raiding team also seized from Ali five M-16 assault rifles, an AK-47 Kalashnikov, and a machine gun. – MCS/ABC
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