3 combat rifles seized from dealers entrapped by CIDG-BAR

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Agents of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group seized three assault rifles from two illegal dealers entrapped in Barangay Sarang in Malabang, Lanao del Sur on Saturday afternoon.

Brig. Gen. Prexy Tanggawohn, director of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, told reporters that the two gunrunners, Jamel Cabila Musor and Pananggi Sarip Ampuan, are now detained, to be prosecuted for violation of Republic Act 10591 that prohibits possession, or sale of firearms without permission from the national government.

Tanggawohn said Musor and Ampuan were immediately arrested by agents of the CIDG-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, led by Lt. Col. Ariel Huesca, after selling to them two M14 rifles and an M16 rifle with magazines loaded with 7.62 and 5.56 millimeter ammunition in a tradeoff along a highway in Barangay Sarang in Malabang.

Tanggawohn said the CIDG-BAR’s entrapment operation that led to the arrest of Musor and Ampuan was laid after Huesca and his subordinate-policemen had received tips from confidential informants about their gunrunning activities in Lanao del Sur, one of the six provinces in the Bangsamoro region.

Local officials in Malabang and nearby towns in Lanao del Sur told reporters that they are certain that the two suspects, now in the custody of CIDG-BAR, have links with the Dawlah Islamiya terror group.