Army seize firearms cache in Marawi City

From the Philippine News Agency (Jan 24): Army seize firearms cache in Marawi City

Philippine Army troops seized a cache of high-powered firearms and arrested two people while enforcing the election gun ban in Marawi City, military officials announced Thursday. Lt. Col. Ralph Raul Sespeñe, commander of the Army’s 65th Infantry Battalion, said the arrest and seizure were made Wednesday night at a checkpoint in Barangay Datu Saber, Marawi City.

Arrested were Muslimin Binao Ali and Junaid Ali, according to Sespeñe. Sespeñe said the suspects, who were aboard a Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) with no registered plate number, even tried evade the checkpoint prompting the troops to flag down the SUV.

The troops have noticed in plain view that one of the two occupants of the SUV is in possession of a Minimi 5.56-mm rifle, Sespeñe said. The 5.56 mm Minimi is an air-cooled, gas-operated automatic weapon and is used for direct support of friendly units. It can be installed on a tripod or a mounting device of vehicles, helicopters and boats and used as a light machine gun.

Sespeñe said that more guns or a total of 12 high-powered firearms were found inside the SUV upon further visual search was made. Among the high-powered firearms that were confiscated to include the Minimi 5.56-mm rifle were: one SAR Galil rifle; one 7.62-mm M-14 rifle; four M653 5.56-mm rifles (Baby Armalites) with M-203 grenade launchers; two 5.56-mm M-16 rifles; one Caliber .308 rifle; one 9-mm machine rifle; and, one U.S.-made 12 gauge shotgun.

The arrested suspects were turned over to the police in Marawi City for the filing of case against them while the vehicle and the firearms were brought to the headquarters of 65th Infantry Battalion for legal disposition processing.

Meanwhile, Army’s 1st Infantry Division commander Maj. Gen Ricardo Rainier Cruz III said the efforts of “our soldiers will continue to ensure a peaceful and credible national and local election of this coming May 13, 2013 election.” The election gun ban, which took effect nationwide last Jan. 13, is aimed to curb violence related to mid-term election in May. The election gun ban will remain in effect until June 13.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=490567