Father, son killed; P1.6-M shabu seized in police operation

COTABATO CITY — A 52-year-old father and his son were killed in a gunfight with policemen after selling P1.6 million worth of shabu in an entrapment operation on Monday, September 1, in Barangay Bongued, Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao del Norte.

Local executives and ranking members of the Datu Odin Sinsuat Municipal Peace and Order Council told reporters on Tuesday, September 2, that Mandangan Noden and his 29-year-old son, Iverson Noden, died instantly from multiple gunshot wounds sustained in the shootout.

Brig. Gen. Jaysen De Guzman, director of the Police Regional Office–Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, announced Tuesday that police operatives led by Lt. Col. Esmael Madin of the Datu Odin Sinsuat Municipal Police Station, together with units from PRO-BAR, also arrested the family’s 18-year-old son, Daboy Noden, who yielded peacefully after his father and older brother were killed.

De Guzman and Mayor Abdulmain Abas said policemen were forced to neutralize the Nodens when they drew assault rifles and opened fire after realizing they had just sold 240 grams of shabu to anti-narcotics operatives during the sting in Sitio Ampatuan, Barangay Bongued.

De Guzman and Col. Eleuterio Ricardo, director of the Maguindanao del Norte Provincial Police Office, also thanked Mayor Abas and Vice Mayor Bobsteel Sinsuat, both newly elected last May 12, for supporting the entrapment operation.

Aside from the P1.6 million worth of shabu, police seized the M16 and M14 assault rifles of the slain suspects, whose remains were immediately buried by relatives.