2 illegal gun dealers killed in Maguindanao del Sur shootout

COTABATO CITY — Soldiers killed two gunrunners in a brief gunfight in Datu Abdullah Sangki, Maguindanao del Sur, on Tuesday morning, March 18.

Senior officials of the Maguindanao del Sur Provincial Police Office and Brig. Gen. Romeo Juan Macapaz, director of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, told reporters that Norsalam Ulama and Norsama Muntok both died instantly from multiple bullet wounds they sustained in the gunfight they provoked.

Local officials and police investigators, as quoted in radio reports, said that Ulama and Muntok opened fire on personnel of the Army’s 33rd Infantry Battalion when they tried to stop their vehicle at a checkpoint in Purok 1, Barangay Old Maganoy, in Datu Abdullah Sangki for a routine inspectio

According to police investigators and barangay leaders, Ulama and Muntok were on their way to deliver an M16 assault rifle and a .45 caliber pistol to a buyer in Datu Abdullah Sangki. The firearms found in their vehicle are now in the custody of the Datu Abdullah Sangki Municipal Police Station.

Macapaz said he had instructed the municipal police force officials to enlist the help of local executives in identifying the accomplices of Ulama and Muntok in their gunrunning activities.