Police, soldiers disarm MILF men in Maguindanao del Sur checkpoint

Maguindanao del Sur map. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

DATU PIANG, Maguindanao del Sur — Five members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) were disarmed and detained Thursday for carrying unlicensed firearms in this town, the police said.

Lieutenant Colonel Armando Liwan, Datu Piang municipal police chief, said the MILF men claimed they were told to report to the house of Datu Salibo Mayor Solaiman Sandigan, who owns a house here.

Liwan said Army and police personnel manning a checkpoint near Sandigan’s house flagged down a pick-up vehicle for regular inspection.

“We saw men with firearms,” Liwan told reporters. When asked for documents pertaining to their legal possession of the weapons, the five men said they had none and that they were MILF members.

Under the ceasefire agreement between the government and the MILF, the movement of latter’s members should be coordinated with law enforcers via a peace mechanism to prevent undue provocation and possible misencounter.

The MILF men did not resist arrest, said Liwan.

They were identified as Mohammad Abbas Gundalangan Kudanding, an MILF field commander and his subordinates, namely, Bhadz Salik, Norhamin Nasa, Abdullazis Kendatun, and Ali Buday.

Troops from the Army’s 6th Infantry Battalion seized an M4 bushmaster, an M16 rifle, a caliber .45 pistol, and ammunition.

Charges were being prepared against the MILF members, Liwan said.

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