V7.62mm ammunition belt mated to an M60 machine gun mounted on a Philippine Air Force UH-1H Huey helicopter above the skies of Marawi City, Lanao del Sur. Photographed by Erwin Mascariñas, InterAksyon
An estimated 6,700 rounds of ammunition shipped by bus from Pasay City are intercepted by operatives of the CIDG Region 10 office, together with the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Military Intelligence Group of the Philippine Army in Cagayan de Oro City.
Butuan City - An estimated 6,700 rounds ammunition were intercepted Thursday morning by operatives of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) Region 10 office together with the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP) and the Military Intelligence Group of the Philippine Army in Cagayan de Oro City.
"We intercepted and seized six boxes carrying 6,700 rounds of 7.62mm ammunition together with four rounds used for the M203 grenade launcher after the boxes arrived on board a Philtranco Bus at around 9:30 in the morning at the Agora Integrated Bus Terminal in Barangay Lapasan, and arrested two individuals who claimed the said boxes," said SPO4 Noel Oclarit, Regional executive senior police officer - chief investigator of CIDG-10.
Oclarit pointed out that the arrival of sensitive intelligence information paved the way for the interception and arrest of the suspects.
"When we got the information and validated that the shipped boxes arrived on board the bus, we waited to see who would claim them. We arrested Arimao Amer Sultan and Batawi Aratok Orangaga, both of whom, according to recovered Comelec identification cards, are from Butig, Lanao del Sur. But we are still validating additional information, as the suspects also had other identification cards with different names on them," said Oclarit.
Oclarit revealed that, during the initial investigation, the suspects appear to be linked to the Maute group that was suspected to have a hand in the recent Davao Night Market bombing.
What's more, Oclarit added, the shipping of ammunition from Pasay City through the bus line was not the first and could have been going on since 2010.
CIDG Region 10 officials said they will further investigate and recommend another investigation in Manila to sniff out the trail and how the ammunition cache ended on the bus trip to Mindanao.
The 7.62x51mm ammunition for standard rifle and machine gun cartridge is widely used for Vietnam War-era M-60 general-purpose machine gun and older versions of the M-14 rifle.
Captain Joe Patrick Martinez, spokesperson of the Army’s 4th Infantry Division (4ID) stated that the interception was a success facilitated by "the sharing of information and coordination with our law enforcers. We have intensified our intelligence gathering, considering the situation after the Davao bombing and the Declaration of the State of Lawlessness, in the hope of cutting off the supply of war materiel to armed groups in Mindanao."
"It is very alarming how such ammunition shipment could be transported from Pasay City to Cagayan de Oro City, and possibly onward to, say, Lanao del Sur," he said.
http://www.interaksyon.com/article/133299/6700-rounds-of-ammunition-headed-for-lanao-del-sur-intercepted-in-cdo
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