Civilian police informer killed in illegal firearms deal sting

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — An illegal gun dealer shot dead a civilian police informer and ran away after he sensed that he had sold three rifles to policemen in an entrapment operation late Friday in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao del Norte.

Brig. Gen. Prexy Tanggawohn, director of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, told reporters on Saturday morning that the suspect, known only by his aliases Kits and Kuramber, is now subject of a manhunt by intelligence operatives of the Maguindanao del Norte Provincial Police Office and the Sultan Kudarat Municipal Police Station.

The gunrunner pulled out a pistol and opened fire at the personnel of the Sultan Kudarat MPS, led by Police Lt. Col. Esmael Madin, and their civilian informers, when he found out that he had sold to them two M14 assault rifles and a bolt-action .22 caliber rifle in an tradeoff in Barangay Ungap in Sultan Kudarat.

The suspect had killed Datudido Kamad Mamaluba, who helped the Sultan Kudarat municipal police force plot the entrapment operation, in the brief shootout that he provoked.

He managed to run away amid the commotion among villagers triggered by the gunshots that reverberated through the scene.

Madin said they are in custody of the three rifles and ammunition seized in the entrapment operation, to be used as evidence in filing a criminal case, in absentia, against its dealer once fully identified.