Alleged mastermind in ambush-slay of 5 PDEA agents killed
Mindanao Armed Conflict • 16:45 PM Fri Apr 15, 2022
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By:
John M. Unson
PRESIDENT DUTERTE and then PDEA Director General AARON N AQUINO view the remains of one of the PDEA agents slain in the ambush in Barangay Malna, Kapai, Lanao Del Sur on October 5, 2018. (Photo by: Leo Villacarlos, PDEA-ODG)
COTABATO CITY --- Policemen shot dead Thursday for resisting arrest the mastermind in the fatal 2018 ambush in Kapai, Lanao del Sur of five agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency.
Col. Christopher Panapan, Lanao del Sur provincial police director, said Friday a team was to peacefully serve arrest warrants to William Comayog Gandawali in his hideout in Barangay Pilintangan in Wao, Lanao del Sur but neutralized him instead when he pulled out a rifle and opened fire.
Gandawali was incumbent barangay chairman of Inudaran in Kolambugan town in Lanao del Norte.
He was wanted for high-profile crimes, including large-scale distribution of shabu in a number of barangays in the adjoining Lanao del Norte and Lanao del Sur provinces.
Gandawali was the alleged mastermind in the October 5, 2018 ambush-slay in Barangay Malna in Kapai, Lanao del Sur of five agents of PDEA under its Bangsamoro regional office here.
The slain PDEA agents were together in a van, en route to this city, from a peace and security dialogue with local sectors in Kapai when gunmen armed with assault rifles attacked them at a secluded stretch of a highway in Barangay Malna in Kapai. (John Unson)