Seaborne cops kill 3 followers of candidate in Basilan encounter

COTABATO CITY — A seaborne police team killed in a shootout three gunmen identified with a local politician in a watercraft approaching a beachfront area in Hadji Muhtamad town in Basilan before dawn Monday, May 12.

The Hadji Muhtamad police force and the Basilan Provincial Police Office had stated in separate reports that policemen on a patrol boat tried to stop the speedboat carrying the gunmen while at the Sangbay Big coast in the municipality. However, its passengers opened fire, provoking a gunfight.

Brig. Gen. Alvin Luzon, commander of the Army’s 101st Infantry Brigade that has jurisdiction over Basilan’s 11 towns and two cities, confirmed to reporters the incident, which triggered tension among residents of Hadji Muhtamad,

Three men in the boat were killed in the ensuing gunfight, according to reports reaching the office of Brig. Gen. Romeo Juan Macapaz, director of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, in Camp SK Pendatun in Parang, Maguindanao del Norte.

Local executives and provincial police officials said the fatalities, Samir Jamiri, Ramusi Abdurakman and Ven Mapil, were followers of an aspirant for the mayoral post in the municipality.

Two companions of the three slain men were wounded in their encounter with combined personnel of the Hadji Muhtamad Municipal Police Station, led by Major Nursaibar Mahadi and the 52nd Special Action Company of the 5th Special Action Battalion under Lt. Xavier Louize Cacho.