Wanted Moro commander killed in SK anti-narcotics operation

SULTAN KUDARAT --- Lawmen on Friday killed in a brief gunfight a notorious Moro commander who operated a big drug distribution network in two adjoining towns in Sultan Kudarat.The suspect, Ugalingan Manuel, Jr., died from multiple bullet wounds he sustained when he and his companions traded shots with policemen, soldiers and agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency who raided his lair in Barangay Marguez in Esperanza town early Friday.Senior Supt. Raul Supiter, director of the Sultan Kudarat provincial police, said the raiding team was to peacefully arrest Manuel, but the attempt went haywire when he and his followers opened fire. They were armed with assault rifles. The raiding team has no other option but return fire,” Supiter said.Supiter said Manuel and his men may have possibly been alerted by lookouts who noticed the policemen, combatants of the Army’s 57th Infantry Battalion and militiamen approach their hideout in Sitio Ogis southeast of Barangay Marguez at about 5:30 a.m. Friday.Manuel, most known as Commander Boyet,” was leader of drug ring that dispersed methamphetamine hydrochloride (shabu) in the neighboring towns of Esperanza and sulan, the provincial capital of Sultan Kudarat.The anti-narcotics operation that resulted in his death was carried out with the help of personnel from a unit of the police’s Special Action Force in Sultan Kudarat and barangay officials.The encounter waned only when followers of Manuel saw him fall as the exchanges of gunfire ensued.Ten of his followers voluntarily yielded after the encounter.They turned in three World War II vintage .30 caliber Garand rifles, an AK-47 Kalashnikov, two 7.62 millimeter M-14 rifles, an M203 rifle, a Vietnam War era single-shot M-79 grenade launcher, and a live B-40 anti-tank rocket.Text messages have been circulating after the incident, purporting that five of Manuel’s followers had escaped carrying at least two assault rifles each and two big bags containing shabu.