Alleged plotter in fatal ambush of 5 BARMM cops arrested

COTABATO CITY — Policemen cornered on Saturday, June 6, at the General Santos City Airport a leader of the Dawlah Islamiya tagged as one of the masterminds behind the fatal ambush last March of five policemen in Shariff Aguak, Maguindanao del Sur.

The suspect, Nickson Gayak Kamangon, was to depart for Manila via the General Santos City Airport in Barangay Tambler in General Santos City, when he was intercepted by intelligence agents from units of the regional police offices in Region 12 and in the Bangsamoro region, along officials of the Police Aviation Security Unit 12, after they learned of his travel route from informants, including municipal officials in Shariff Aguak.

Local executives in Maguindanao del Sur, one of the five provinces in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, said Kamangon, a ranking member of the Dawlah Islamiya and a resident of Barangay Labu-Labu Mother in Shariff Aguak, is one of three leaders of the terror group who planned the March 28 ambush of a police team near the Maguindanao Del Sur provincial police headquarters in the municipality, which resulted in the deaths of five policemen.

The slain policemen were riding together in a patrol vehicle and returning to their provincial headquarters from a law enforcement mission in Shariff Aguak’s municipal center when they were ambushed by more than 10 Dawlah Islamiya terrorists armed with M16 and M14 rifles. The attackers were allegedly led by Kamangon and three others whose names the police have withheld for now as efforts to locate them continue.

The incident also left three policemen wounded, all whom eventually recovered from the serious gunshot wounds they sustained in the attack.

Captain Steffie Salanguit, spokesperson of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, told reporters on Sunday that Kamangon is now detained at the Maguindanao del Sur Provincial Police Office. Its director, Col. Michael John Mangahis, along with his counterparts in the Police Regional Office 12 and the policemen securing the General Santos City Airport, cooperated in the operation that led to his arrest.

Local executives in Maguindanao del Sur said Kamangon was supposed to depart for Manila, where he planned to hide after learning that the Regional Trial Court Branch 15 in Shariff Aguak had issued warrants of arrest against him and his accomplices in the atrocity.

He and his companions were charged with multiple murder and multiple frustrated murder for having killed five policemen and wounded three others, whom they waylaid on March 28 along a stretch of a highway not too far from their headquarters.

They were also charged with robbery for having taken the victims' firearms, wristwatches and wallets before they fled the scene.

Salanguit said PRO-BAR’s director, Brig. Gen. Christopher Marcial Abecia, is grateful to all police units in Region 12 and the commander of the Army’s 601st Infantry Brigade in Maguindanao del Sur, Brig. Gen. Edgar Catu and local executives in Shariff Aguak for having supported the operation that led to the arrest of Kamangon, who is now detained and awaiting prosecution in court.