24 rifles confiscated from MILF members travelling without coordination

MAGUINDANAO --- Soldiers seized on Tuesday 24 assault rifles from members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front moving around without prior coordination with local authorities.Reports reaching the Army’s 6thInfantry Division in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao indicated that the gunmen, led by Orly Gampong, were on a truck that Army personnel stopped at Barangay Mileb in Sultan sa Barongis, acting on tips from informants.The government and the MILF are bound by a July 1997 interim security pact binding both to coordinate any tactical movement by either side in potential conflict flashpoint areas in southern provinces.Lt. Col. Gerry Besana, spokesman of the 6thID-led anti-terror Task Force Central, said Wednesday Gampong and his men belong to the MILF’s 106thBase Command.Police investigators are still trying to determine if they were to reinforce any of the two adversarial MILF factions squabbling since last week for control of strategic patches of lands in Datu Abdullah Sangki town, also in Maguindanao, or could be part of a contingent sent by their central committee to pacify both camps.Besana said the firearms collected from them --- 18 M16 assault rifles,five M14 assault rifles and an M203 rifle fitted with a launcher for 40 millimeter grenade projectile --- are now in the custody of the 40thInfantry Battalion. Under joint security protocols, the incident shall be reported to the joint ceasefire committee for appropriate action, Besana said.The committee, comprised of representatives from the MILF, the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police, is helping maintain law and order in areas covered by the ceasefire accord.Local officials said Gampong and his followers first refused to turn their firearms when they were flagged down and frisked but conceded eventually when more Army personnel arrived at the scene to help disarm them.