7 arrested at checkpoint near Marawi

LANAO DEL SUR, Philippines – Five men and two women wearing Army and police uniforms were arrested for trying to enter Marawi City on Wednesday.

Ariel Cabanes Bijaan, Pacito Sabuclalao Villanueva, Juniper Adlawan Alestre, Bienvenido Malasa Sepe, Florante Ramos Alejandrino, Rufina Gomez Gayatao and Elsie Timola Lantong were in a Toyota Fortuner when they were intercepted at a checkpoint along the Iligan-Marawi highway, Chief Superintendent Reuben Theodore Sindac, Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao police director, said yesterday.

Sindac said probers confirmed that the suspects are not members of the Philippine National Police or the Armed Forces of the Philippines. He said the identification cards of the suspects bear the seal of the Moro National Liberation Front.

Several other police and military uniforms were recovered from the vehicle of the suspects.

Authorities said it is possible that the suspects would help Maute militants escape from Marawi.

On Sunday, Lala Arafat, 38, who admitted he is a member of the Maute group, was collared at an evacuation center in Saguiaran, Lanao del Sur.