Authorities take over lair of North Cotabato drug trafficker

NORTH COTABATO --- Government forces backed by Moro rebels took over Thursday the hideout of drug trafficker Mokz Masgal at the Liguasan Delta and found there assorted firearms and materials for home-made bombs.
Masgal, most known as Commander Madrox, and his more than 50 followers, mostly armed with assault rifles, managed to escape upstream when they sensed the raiding teams approach their lair in Midsayap town in North Cotabato from three directions riding watercrafts borrowed from fishermen as a camouflage.

Masgal, wanted for multiple murders, armed robbery, cattle theft and large-scale distribution of methamphetamine hydrochloride (shabu), had also extorted protection money” from traders in North Cotabato province.The operation to neutralize Masgal, which started Wednesday, involves the North Cotabato provincial police, units of the Army’s 602nd Brigade, guerillas of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency.A known henchman of Masgal named Kamarudin and nine others were nabbed at noontime Wednesday by the composite teams in their initial engagement with the outlawed group.The Midsayap municipal police, however, detained only Kamarudin and two others and released the rest for lack of evidence linking them to Masgal’s drug trafficking activities.Community leaders in Midsayap were elated with how the MILF supported the law enforcement operation, apparently in keeping with its ceasefire accord with the national government.The July 1997 Agreement on General Cessation of Hostilities between the government and the MILF enjoins both sides to mutually cooperate in maintaining law and order in flashpoint areas in Mindanao. This is something we have not heard of since the Mindanao peace process began more than two decades ago. Now we are sure that with MILF’s support, Commander Madrox will soon be placed behind bars,” said an elected municipal official, who asked not to be identified for fear of reprisals.Major Gen. Carlito Galvez, Jr., commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, confirmed on Friday the government’s takeover of the guerilla enclave Masgal and his men used as takeoff point for their criminal activities. We are thankful to the MILF for helping us out in this law enforcement operation,” Galvez said.

Police investigators said firearms and materials for improvised explosive devices and roadside bombs were found in the surroundings of the abandoned encampment.

Witnesses reported having seen five of Masgal’s men dispose off shabu, from seven big bags, in swamps that connect to the Liguasan Delta as they swam away to elude pursuing government forces and MILF fighters.A retired Army officer, who lost more than a dozen water buffaloes to Masgal and his men when they raided his farm at the border of North Cotabato’s neighboring Aleosan and Midsayap towns in 2008, said he is confident the police could locate the wanted group soon with the help of the MILF. We heard the MILF forces that helped in the operation were led by Commander Haon. To him and his men, we are thankful,” said the retired military official.The source was assigned at 6th ID’s headquarters in Camp Siongco in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao prior to his retirement from the military service in 2009.

Most of the MILF rebels who helped in the operation were followers of Ustadz Wahid Tundok, who is based in the second district of Maguindanao.