BARMM chief offers bounty for Tawi-Tawi drug traffickers

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — As police and military units hunted down the suspected drug traffickers who killed an anti-narcotics agent and wounded three Philippine Marines personnel on Sunday, Bangsamoro chief minister Abdulrauf Macacua offered a cash incentive for any information leading to their arrest.

“We share the grief of the family of the slain agent of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA). We shall wield the powers of the Bangsamoro government in helping the police and military identify the drug dealers who escaped after that encounter,” Macacua, who also chairs the regional peace and order council, said.

Edgar Jubay, PDEA director for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, said narcotics agents were about to frisk and detain suspect Jimhar Jawadil and his companions in Barangay Paniongan in Bongao, Tawi-Tawi when the group resisted and opened fire at the law enforcers.

PDEA agent Enfernie Jim Dayag was killed in the ensuing shootout, while Lt. Col. Richard Malabanan, commanding officer of the Navy 4th Marine Battalion, and two other Marines were shot and wounded.

Police said Jawadil, who was killed in the gunfight, was a former member of the Abu Sayyaf terror group.

Seized from Juwadil and his group were 96 sachets of shabu valued at P1.8 million, a KG-9 machine pistol, an M1 Garand rifle, four .45-caliber pistols and 221 bullets.