5 killed in hunt for drug traffickers in Talitay town

MAGUINDANAO --- Five were killed, among them a Special Forces (SF) operative, in an encounter Monday between government forces and gunmen coddling followers of Mayor Muntassir Sabal who is wanted for narcotics trade.The fatality, Staff Sergeant Giovanni Perez Olimpo, was firing an M-60 machinegun at enemies while standing unprotected on an Australian-made airboat slithering on a marsh when he was hit by bullets in the middle torso. He died serving his country, helping the government carry on its anti-narcotics campaign, said Major Gen. Carlito Galvez, Jr., commander of the Army’s 6thInfantry Division.The 6thID has jurisdiction over Maguindanao’s Talitay town, a major transshipment point for shabu.Barangay officials said four gunmen, identified as Kamir, Bitol, Ubaida and Omar, were killed in the firefight.The Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) was quick to announce that its guerillas were responsible for the death of Olimpo.Local officials in Talitay said there was no truth to claims by the outlawed group, whose commanders are known drug traffickers, that three airboats carrying SF soldiers, each costing more than P2 million, were destroyed in the firefight.Police intelligence sources said there are talks spreading around that BIFF gunmen are coddling the followers of Sabal, from whose house in Talitay combined policemen, agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency and soldiers found shabu and unlicensed guns last Friday.President Rodrigo Duterte had earlier tagged Sabal and his brother, Abdulwahab, as narco-politicians, both listed in Malacañang roster of drug traffickers in the country.Abdulwahab has been detained since October in connection with his alleged involvement in large-scale distribution of shabu in Maguindanao and nearby central Mindanao provinces.Barangay officials in Talitay, whose mayor, Sabal, has been missing for two months now, said Olimpo was among a team of Army combatants verifying the alleged presence of a makeshift shabu manufacturing facility in a marsh northeast of the municipality.Units of the Army’s 6thInfantry Division have been running after drug traffickers in Talitay town since Friday, an extensive operation started with the search for drugs and firearms at the house of Sabal in the town center.The anti-narcotics operations are closely coordinated with the ceasefire committee of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, according to Tokz Upham, the MILF’s principal ceasefire monitor.Three BIFF bandits were reportedly wounded in Monday’s skirmishes in Talitay.One of the wounded bandits was identified as Tasil, who sustained shrapnel wounds when a 40 millimeter shoulder-fire grenade a soldier fired from a distance landed and exploded near him.