SAF member, drug dealer killed in Marawi police operation

LANAO DEL SUR -- A policeman was killed while another was wounded in a shootout Tuesday with a wanted Maranao drug dealer who also perished in the incident. 

A police team dispatched by Col. Madzgani Mukaram of the Lanao del Sur provincial police to arrest Abdullah Taurac in his hideout in Barangay Lilod in Marawi City Tuesday was forced to neutralize him when he shot with a pistol Sergeants Reagan Salbino and Mohaimen Urandig.

Taurac was immediately killed in the ensuing gunfight.

Salbino, a member of the police’s elite Special Action Force, died in the Amai Pakpak Hospital in Marawi City where Urandig is now undergoing medication for a gunshot wound in the arm.

Mukaram said the raiding team recovered beside Taurac’s cadaver two unlicensed pistols and found in his hideout shabu and a fragmentation grenade.

The operation that resulted in Taurac’s death was a joint law-enforcement mission of the police’s 1403^rd Regional Mobile Force Battalion, the 1^st Police Mobile Force Company, the 103^rd Special Action Company, the Lanao Sur Provincial Police Drug Enforcement Unit and  the Marawi City police.

Mukaram, director of the Lanao del Sur provincial police, said Taurac was long under surveillance for his involvement in large-scale distribution of shabu in Marawi City and nearby towns.  

“The Lanao del Sur provincial police office is grateful to vigilant residents of Marawi City who provided information about his unlawful activity,” Mukaram said.

Six suspected accomplices of Taurac --- Nojuma Habib Angantap, Benjamel Datusaranao Datualabi, Abdulazis Habib Angantap, Najma Angantap Datualabi, Hamza Habib Angantap and Hazim Habib --- who were inside his house when the raiding team arrived were detained for interrogation.