Hidden guns of Maute funder recovered in Lanao del Sur

LANAO DEL SUR --- Authorities seized on Friday an M60 machinegun and five assault rifles from a drug lord reportedly helping fund the Maute terror group.Lt. Gen. Carlito Galvez, Jr. of the Western Mindanao Command said on Saturday that the arms cache, which included three M16 rifles and two M203 rifles, were buried somewhere in Barangay Torogan in Maguing, Lanao del Sur and recovered by personnel of the Army’s 65thInfantry Battalion in an operation on Friday.The two M203 rifles were fitted with launchers for 40 millimeter grenade projectiles.Local officials said the firearms were buried by followers of an alleged drug lord named Alex Yungcao during the height of the five-month siege of several barangays in Marawi City by combined Maute and Abu Sayyaf gunmen.Galvez said the 65thIB learned of the hidden firearms from vigilant residents of Maguing.The firearms are now in the custody of the 65thIB, to be used as evidence in prosecuting Yungcao.Yungcao is known in Lanao del Sur as large-scale distributor of methamphetamine hydrochloride, most known as shabu.Army and police intelligence sources said he is also a funder of the Maute terror group.Chief Supt. Graciano Mijares, director of the Police Regional Office-Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, said the Lanao del Sur provincial police will file corresponding criminal cases against Yungcao.