Most wanted BIFF gunman, pal die in S. Kudarat shootout
PHILIPPINE National Police (PNP) agents on Saturday morning shot dead in an encounter in Sultan Kudarat two suspected members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, one of them wanted for the August 2022 killing of the chief of police of Ampatuan, Maguindanao, PNP chief, General Rodolfo S. Azurin Jr. said.
The suspected cop killer identified as Abdulkarim Hasim alias ‘Boy Jacket’ and his still unidentified companion were gunned down in a shootout with officers out to arrest the former in Purok Yellow Bell in Barangay New Isabela, Tacurong City in Sultan Kudarat 6:30 a.m. Saturday, the top cop said.
Gen. Azurin said that Hasim is the subject of a non-bailable warrant of arrest for murder and double frustrated murder issued by Judge Annabelle Piang of the Cotabato City Regional Trial Court Branch 15.
The cases stemmed from the killing of Lieutenant Reynaldo Samson, the chief of the Ampatuan Municipal Police Station and the wounding of his driver, Corporal Salipuden Endad during an ambush in Bgy. Kapinpilan in Ampatuan municipality on August 30, 2022.
Citing a report from Police Regional Office 12 director, Brigadier Gen. Jimili L. Macaraeg Jr., the PNP chief said Hasim has also been linked to a series of harassments of a patrol base of the Army’s 40thInfantry Battalion in Datu Hofer, Maguindanao.
Brig. Gen. Macaraeg said members of the Tacurong City Police Station, Sultan Kudarat Police Provincial Office and the PRO12 Regional Intelligence Division and Regional Mobile Force Battalion joined the PNP Special Action Force, the PRO-Bangsamoro Administrative Region and the Army’s 1st
Mechanized Infantry Brigade in conducting the successful counter-terror operation.
The PNP chief thanked the local community for their support and cooperation to the security troops involved in the operation even as he called on the public anew to maintain their vigilance and report any suspicious activities or movement to local authorities.
“I commend the operating elements of PRO 12 under the supervision of PBGen Jimili Macaraeg. The neutralization of the primary suspect in the ambush of Lt. Reynaldo Samson is a significant achievement of the PNP and the AFP in the fight against criminality and terrorism. This also serves as a warning to all those who perpetrate violence against law enforcement authorities that they will be held accountable for their actions,” the top cop said.
