2 BARMM residents transporting combat rifles to Zamboanga arrested

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Policemen seized three assault rifles from two men residing here, intercepted in Zamboanga City on Thursday night, February 26.

Local executives here and in Maguindanao del Norte province and officials of the Police Regional Office 9 confirmed on Friday that the two Cotabato City residents, Faizal Sambulawan Lumenda, 23, and his 33-year-old companion, Shariff Abas Matli, are now both locked in a detention facility, awaiting prosecution for illegal possession of firearms.

Officials of PRO-9 and the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region separately told reporters on Friday that the duo, together in a black Mitsubishi Expander bearing license plates NIF 5400, first ignored and sped away from a checkpoint in Barangay Santa Maria in Zamboanga City, where they were supposed to stop for a routine inspection.

Pursuing policemen who cornered Lumenda and Matli at Barangay Pasonanca in Zamboanga City found two 7.62 M14 rifles and a 5.56 HK 416 rifle in their vehicle.

Officials of PRO-BAR and the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, whose headquarters is in Camp Siongco in Barangay Awang in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao del Norte said the three assault rifles seized from them were from this city, to be delivered to a contact somewhere in Zamboanga City.

Radio reports on Friday morning in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and in nearby areas in Region 12 stated that officials of PRO-BAR and the 6th ID were instrumental in alerting the director of PRO 9, Brig. Gen. Edwin Quilates, about the trip then to Zamboanga City of Lumenda and Matli, bringing with them three military-type assault rifles.