2 NPAs killed in extortion entrapment operation
SULTAN KUDARAT --- A combined Army-police team killed in a clash Sunday two New People’s Army guerillas extorting “protection money” from farmers and traders on periodic basis.
The two NPAs, one of them identified by villagers as Raminie Sambilad, died on the spot from multiple gunshot wounds.
They were killed in a shootout with policemen and soldiers who tried to entrap them in Barangay Langgal in Senator Ninoy Aquino, Sultan Kudarat.
The slain NPAs were to collect P150,000 cash from a banana farm owner in Barangay Langgal in a supposed entrapment operation that turned awry when they sensed that the designated payoff site was surrounded by non-uniformed personnel of the Regional Police Office-12.
They reportedly pulled out handguns and opened fire at the policemen and members of the Army’s 7th Infantry Battalion who tried to surround them while in the act of receiving the amount from a payer, sparking a gunfight.
Local officials and investigators from the Senator Ninoy Aquino municipal police confirmed to reporters that Sambilad and his still unidentified companion belong to an extortion group under the NPA’s Guerilla Front 73 that operates in Sultan Kudarat and nearby towns in South Cotabato.
Sambilad was tagged by local traders as the same person who collected money from them each time they receive extortion letters threatening to bomb their establishments if they refuse to cooperate.