Drug lord with links to Maute killed in Malabang PDEA operation

LANAO DEL SUR --- Lawmen shot dead an alleged drug lord and financier of the Maute terror group during a law-enforcement operation before dawn Wednesday in Malabang town in Lanao del Sur.The fatality, Nago Balindong, a scion of a big Maranaw clan in Malabang, is among the top ten most wanted drug dealers in Lanao del Sur, a component province of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).Combined personnel of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-ARMM, the Army’s 6thInfantry Battalion and the local police were to peacefully arrest Balindong in his hideout in Barangay Jose Abad Santos in Malabang but neutralized him instead when he pulled out a gun.Army and police intelligence sources said Nago had links with the Maute terror group, also known as the Dawlah Islamiya.Nago’s wife, Noraya Santican Balindong, an incumbent barangay official, was arrested after the brief shootout.PDEA-ARMM agents and local police investigators recovered from their house methamphetamine hydrochloride, most known as shabu, a pistol and two fragmentation grenades.Captain Arvin Encinas, public affairs officer of the Army’s 6thInfantry Division, which has jurisdiction over the Malabang-based 6thIB, said the anti-narcotics operation also resulted in the arrest of three of Balindong’s henchmen, Bocari and Camaloden, both surnamed Balindong, and Tingaraan Boro-Boro.PDEA-ARMM agents and investigators recovered from them shabu, a handgun, and several rounds of live pistol ammunition.Encinas said their hideouts were raided with the help of vigilant villagers who provided the PDEA-ARMM and the police adequate information on their exact locations.Encinas said intelligence agents of the 6thIB, a component unit of the 603rdBrigade, have received information from local informants purporting that the slain Balindong had links with the Maute terror group.