Inspector Samson Obatay, chief of police precinct 3 here, said besides gunrunning, the suspect, Datu Baraguir Arraf, was also allegedly involved in piracy and robbery.
"It took us a long time to track him down," he said.
Obatay said political supporters of Cotabato City Mayor Muslimin Sema led police to the hideout of Arraf, long wanted for stockpiling and selling military-type weapons to local criminal gangs.
Arraf, he said, kept his contraband near the Timako area, a coastal district here and a known entry point for smuggled firearms and barter goods.
Seized in Arraf’s hideout were two caliber .30 Carbines and a 12-gauge shotgun.
Witnesses said three of Arraf’s followers, identified only as Kadil, Sindatu and Talib, managed to escape, carrying at least three assault rifles each, into a nearby fishpond before policemen and elements of the Army’s anti-crime Task Force Cotabato could cordon off their hideout.
Obatay quoted local sources as saying that prior to the raid, Arraf had kept several M-16 Armalites, an M-14 assault rifle, a caliber .30 Browning automatic rifle and shotguns in his lair. — John Unson