Suspected BIFF man arrested

NORTH COTABATO, Philippines – A suspected member of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) was arrested after he allegedly left an improvised explosive device (IED) in a roadside hotel in Midsayap town here yesterday.

Abdulgani Malang Abas was arrested by bystanders as he was leaving the area where he left a box containing the explosives.

Superintendent Renante delos Santos, municipal police chief, said responding policemen brough Abas to the police station for interrogation.

Abas told investigators he was hired by a woman to bring the box to the town proper and leave it near the entrance to the Hill Park Hotel.  

The IED, fashioned from a mortar shell was placed in the box covered with durian.

Delos Santos said they have yet to confirm whether Abas is a member of the BIFF as bomb experts defused the IED.

He said Abas had initially confessed to probers that the IED came from an armed group in Barangay Tugal in Midsayap, not far from the farming villages that the BIFF bandits attacked last week.

Meanwhile, authorities have been implementing curfew in 17 of 57 barangays in Midsayap town for three days now to protect residents from possible attacks by the brigand BIFF.

“Only bad guys will roam in these 17 barangays with the curfew in place. The police and military will deal with them promptly,” Midsayap Mayor Romeo Araña, chairman of the municipal peace and order council (MPOC), told journalists.

The 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew is being imposed with MPOC’s permission, according to Araña.