Alleged Muslim militant gun runner slain during buy-bust in Ormoc City

SOCO personnel processing the crime scene pulled to see one of the One thousand pesos bill used in the gun buy bust that led to the death of Muslim convert militant Joseph Anulga Jr., a.k.a Dawud in Ormoc City. / Robert Dejon, Inquirer Visayas

ORMOC CITY – A suspected Muslim militant, who is reportedly into gun running, was killed when he resisted arrest during a buy-bust operation with members of the police’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) along Sitio Lawis Barangay Airport about 8 a.m. today.

CIDG Northern Leyte Chief P/Supt Marvin Pedere said Joseph Anulga Jr., a.k.a Dawud, a Muslim convert and a resident of the said place, pulled a caliber .45 pistol and tried to shoot it out with the operatives.

But other operatives, who acted as security to the buy-bust, shot the suspect in the head resulting to his instant death.

Police recovered from the backpack of the slain Muslim convert militant Joseph Anulga a.k.a Dawud a bomb connected to a cellular phone that can be used as a detonator. COURTESY OF EOD ORMOC

Recovered from the suspect was a .45 caliber pistol procured by the CIDG operatives amounting to P10,000.

Another caliber .45 pistol was recovered in the possession of the suspect and the P10,000 cash used in the buy-bust.

802nd Brigade Commander BGen. Lope Dagoy said in a statement that Dawud was a Dawlah Islamiyah (DI)-affiliated terrorist cell member in Ormoc City.

Dawud was an Islamic convert and has pledged allegiance to Daesh (Islamic State) and its recognized caliph, Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi, he said.

He added that Dawud was set to join the local terrorist groups at any camp in Mindanao and intended to die as a martyr of Islam.

Dagoy said Ormoc City residents have reported Dawud to the military and police for recruiting locals to convert to Islam.

He said Dawud was a direct associate of the late Yusuf Macuto, who was involved in a foiled plot to bomb the US Embassy last November 2016, and the main suspect in the Hilongos bombing last December 2016. Macuto was killed during the Marawi siege.