Soldiers arrest 5 men, seize rifle, illegal drug kit in Maguindanao

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CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao del Norte — Soldiers arrested five men and seized from them a rifle and drug use paraphernalia during a law enforcement operation in Maguindanao del Sur on Independence Day, the Army here said.

Lt. Col. Loqui Marco, commander of the Army’s 90th Infantry Battalion, said that around 12:30 p.m., the suspects on board a white minivan was passing by an Army checkpoint along the national highway in Shariff Aguak town when soldiers noticed a rifle inside the car.

Marco said plain view inspection led to the discovery of an M4 rifle with magazine, and further inspection resulted in the recovery of a still undetermined volume of suspected meth with drug use paraphernalia.

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The five suspects were held for questioning and later turned over to the Shariff Aguak municipal police office.

Major General Donald M. Gumiran, commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division and the anti-crime Joint Task Force Central, lauded the soldiers for the feat and urged the public to report suspicious persons in their communities.

The town of Shariff Aguak has been the site of shooting and strafing incidents by armed men on motorbikes and minivans over the past weeks.

Members of community police force multipliers have been subjected to attacks since last month that already claimed the lives of five Barangay Peacekeeping Action Team (BPAT) members.

Gumiran vowed that the Army will continue assisting the police in containing threat groups even after the election gun ban had been lifted./mr