2 gang leaders fall in North Cotabato raid

North Cotabato, Philippines - Government operatives on Friday arrested in Kabacan town two gang leaders involved in large-scale drug trafficking and other criminal activities in North Cotabato province.

The arrested suspects, Menu Maganaka, also known as “Derby,” and cohort Rex Bacana, who is “Toto” to neighbors and accomplices, were cornered while in Sitios Lote and Lumayong, in Barangays Kayaga and Lower Paatan, respectively, by a combined Army and police team.

The raiding team was comprised of combatants from the Army’s 7th Infantry Battalion (IB), members of the Kabacan municipal police and operatives under Senior Superintendent Alex Tagum, North Cotabato police director.

The commanding officer of 7th IB, Lt. Col. Odie Edralin, said local officials and barangay folks helped in the raids that resulted to the arrest of Maganaka and Bacana.

The suspects, now in police custody, are also both engaged in extortion activities, according to local officials.

Edralin said the raiding team recovered from the duo’s possession an M16 assault rifle, three .45 caliber pistols, and live ammunition of various calibers.

Edralin said the operation that led to the arrest of Maganaca and Bacana was part of an intensified crackdown by the North Cotabato police and the office of Gov. Emmylou Taliño-Mendoza against traffickers of methamphetamine hydrochloride (shabu) and robbery syndicates.

He said Army intelligence agents are now helping the police determine the veracity of reports from confidential informants purporting that Maganaca and Bacana could be involved too in last week’s three grenade attacks in the town proper of Kabacan.

Six people, among them a four-year-old child, were injured in the bombings.