BIFF finance officer falls in Cotabato City
Breaking News • 03:04 AM Wed Apr 1, 2015
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By:
Edwin O. Fernandez
6th Infantry Division spokesperson Capt. Joann Petinglay. (courtesy of 6th ID)
CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao - The military's 6th Infantry Division hasannounced today the arrest of an officer of theBangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters
(BIFF)in his residence in Cotabato City Monday night.In a statement, Capt. Joann Petinglay, 6th ID spokesperson, identified the arrested BIFF official asAgdulgani Esmael Pagao alias Abdulayman Pagao, the group's finance officer.Petinglay said the operation was carried out by the
combined elements of 5th Special Forces Battalion, Intelligence Support
Group, Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, 6th Military
Intelligence Group, 1st Mechanized Infantry Battalion, JSOU1, and
Cotabato City Police Office.
Pagao was arrested at Campo Muslim in
Barangay Mother Bagua, Cotabato City based ona search warrant issued by Judge
Bansawan Z. Ibrahim dated March 30, 2015. Seized from Pagao was acaliber .45
pistol with ammunition, two loaded magazines, and a fragmentation grenade. He did not resist arrest.Petinglay said the arrest of Pagao marked another
accomplishment of the government through excellent coordination with the
different law enforcementagencies.
She saidrebel group is expected
to weaken as its sources of funds fell to government hands.Task Force Central, a police-military composed tasked to neutralize lawless elements in Maguindanao, has slowed down its law enforcement operations although it is yet to arrest Filipino bombing expert Abdul Basit Usman and another Malaysian suspected terrorist hiding with him in the marshland.