Cop guarding checkpoint in Basilan shot dead

COTABATO CITY — A policeman guarding a roadside checkpoint in Lamitan City, Basilan was shot dead by two men riding a motorcycle on Tuesday night.

Officials of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region and Lt. Col. Arlan Delumpines, Lamitan City police chief, separately told reporters on Wednesday morning that Patrolman Khalid Sali Ahmad of the 1st Platoon of the Basilan Provincial Mobile Force Company was declared dead on arrival by physicians in a hospital were his companions brought him for treatment. 

Ahmad was on duty, inspecting vehicles passing by their checkpoint along a highway in Barangay Colonia in Lamitan City, when two men riding a motorcycle in tandem came by, shot him with pistols, turned around and fled.

The duo reportedly escaped toward Barangay Campo Uno in Lamitan City.

Policemen assigned at the checkpoint had, in recent months, seized handguns, shabu and marijuana from motorists they have subjected to routine security checks.

Talks are spreading around stating that the attack that left Ahmad dead was an apparent retaliation to the authorities' confiscation of loose firearms and narcotics from motorists they had flagged down at the checkpoint. 

Police investigators and local officials are coordinating to identify the killers of Ahmad for immediate prosecution.