THE Philippine National Police Intelligence Group (PNP-IG) yesterday announced the neutralization of two wanted members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters-Karialan Faction-turned gunrunners following a shootout that marred the conduct of a buy-bust operation in Lambayong, Sultan Kudarat last September 24.

PNP-IG director Col.l Romeo J. Macapaz said that the gunbattle erupted after the suspects sensed they were being entrapped by undercover officers on the national highway in Bgy. Didtaras in Lambayong municipality.

The Regional Intelligence Unit 11 under Col. Russel C. Maca developed the “intelligence packet” that triggered the anti-gun trafficking operation.

The sting was launched by the RIU 11, with the support of officers from the PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, the Naval Intelligence Security Group, the RIU 12 and the Sultant Kudarat Police Provincial Office.

During the operation, undercover operatives watched from a distance as the two motorcycle-riding suspects identified as Abdullaziz Guiadulin Bukakong alias “Sankali/Mamasabulod,” and Limudin Enged Tayan arrived to meet an agent whom they will sell two high-powered sniper rifles.

The two were already showing the weapons to the poseur when they sensed the ongoing sting. The poseur was then checking one of the caliber 50 sniper rifle they were selling.

Immediately, Mamasabulod loaded the cal. 7.62 sniper rifle he was holding and attempted to shoot the agent, prompting back-up officers to engage him and his cohort in a firefight.

Both were hit in their bodies and were taken to the Sultan Kudarat Provincial Hospital, where an attending physician declared them dead upon arrival.

Recovered from the slain suspects were one home-made cal. 50 chambered-loaded sniper rifle, two cal. 50 live ammunition, a homemade cal. 7.62 loaded sniper rifle with a magazine containing five bullets and P5,020 in different denominations.

The suspects’ black Yamaha NMax motorcycle without license plate was impounded by the local police.

According to the PNP-IG, Mamasabulod has long been the subject of an intelligence operation amid confirmed reports he is a member of the BIFF-Karialan Faction affiliated with the Dawlah Islamiyah-Hassan Local Terrorist Group engaged in gunrunning and sale of improvised explosive devices in the area.

The intelligence unit said that the sale of illegal guns and IEDs and extortion activities on local public transport companies in Central Mindanao are among the main financial sources of the terror group.

The BIFF, also known as the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Movement is an Islamist militant organization based in Mindanao. It is a breakaway group from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front known to have aligned with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

The group gained notoriety for its involvement in the infamous Marawi Siege in 2017, which ended after a five-month long gunbattles between security forces and the terrorists.

Scores of BIFF-Karialan Faction members have been killed in clashes with government troops since then.