KIDAPAWAN CITY – A hundred Army fatigue uniform-wearing men who claimed to be members of the Moro National Liberation Front were flagged down in a checkpoint on the national highway in Buluan, Maguindanao yesterday.
Reports from the Army based in Tacurong City, Sultan Kudarat said the armed MNLF members were on board trucks and were holding high-powered firearms when they were intercepted.
The reports added the assigned Army personnel ordered the Moro rebels to disembark and told to stay in a building near the chokepoint while negotiations for their release were on going.
Soldiers manning the checkpoint seized at least 50 firearms, mostly long and high-powered, from the rebels. The soldiers found out that most, if not all, firearms were unlicensed.
The Army said MNLF leaders who were with the group explained to soldiers they are headed towards Buluan for a general assembly.
The Moro rebels came from North Cotabato and Davao, said the Army.
A source said they were later released in the afternoon but their guns remain in the custody of the authorities.
It was not clear if charges of carrying unlicensed guns would be filed against the MNLF members. (Malu Cadelina Manar)
