2 combat rifle dealers arrested in Maguindanao del Norte

COTABATO CITY — Plainclothes policemen seized two assault rifles and ammunition from two gunrunners clamped down in an entrapment operation in Sultan Mastura, Maguindanao del Norte on Tuesday, October 15.

Brig. Gen. Romeo Juan Macapaz, director of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, told reporters on Wednesday that the two suspects, Taher Baomba and Daw Rivas, are now in the custody of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, awaiting prosecution.

In a report to Macapaz, Lt. Col. Ariel Huesca, regional chief of the CIDG-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, said the duo yielded peacefully when they were frisked and cuffed by their agents who had procured from them two M16 assault rifles and ammunition during a tradeoff in Barangay Tambo in Sultan Mastura.

Huesca said that the entrapment operation, which resulted in their arrest and the confiscation of unlicensed firearms, was conducted with the assistance of tipsters, including local officials and barangay leaders from Sultan Mastura 

Residents of Sultan Mastura told reporters that both suspects are likely linked to the outlawed allies Dawlah Islamiya and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, whose leaders are known illegal gun dealers and are into large-scale distribution of shabu and marijuana.