Extortionist slain, 2 hurt in shootout in Sultan Kudarat

From the Philippine News Agency (Jan 10): Extortionist slain, 2 hurt in shootout in Sultan Kudarat

A suspected member of an extortion group operating in Central Mindanao was killed in a shootout with police and Army intelligence operatives in a restaurant in Isulan town in Sultan Kudarat province, around Wednesday noon. Sr. Supt. Rolen Balquin, provincial director of the Sultan Kudarat Police, identified the slain suspected extortionist as Saddam Sulaiman.

Arrested after the shootout was a certain Yasser Subho, member of the Task Force Ittihad of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). The Task Force Ittihad is a peacekeeping force of the MILF whose mandate is to resolve "rido" or blood feuds among members and supporters of the Front. Balquin said they have taken from Subho’s possession an ID which states his affiliation with the MILF and the task force.

 Balquin said that around 11:50 a.m., on Wednesday, his men, including Army and other police intelligence operatives in Central Mindanao, conducted an entrapment operation against an extortion group that was set to meet with representatives from the Husky Bus Line at Mang Gorio Restaurant in Isulan, Sultan Kudarat. The extortionists, he said, were asking P1 million from the bus company. During the course of negotiations, a shootout between the operatives and extortion group occurred that led to the killing of Sulaiman and the wounding of Subho.

An intelligence operative of the Sultan Kudarat Provincial Police Office, PO2 Adrian Ong was also injured during the shootout. Authorities recovered from the crime scene a caliber .45 pistol, which they believed was owned by Sulaiman, and two fragmentation grenades. Both the injured were rushed to a hospital in Sultan Kudarat for treatment. Subho, according to Balquin, was placed under tight security. Appropriate charges are being readied against the extortion group, he said.

The entrapment operation was conducted jointly by intelligence operatives and Special Operation Group of the Sultan Kudarat Provincial Police Office, Isulan municipal police station, Military Intelligence Company, and the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA).

On Dec. 29, a Husky Bus Line unit was damaged when a roadside bomb exploded along the rotunda in Isulan town where five persons, three of them bus passengers, were seriously injured. The Yellow Bus Line that was behind the Husky Bus was also hit during the explosion. Authorities hinted extortion as behind the recent bombings in Sultan Kudarat and nearby provinces.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=485941