Soldiers foil gun smuggling attempt by suspected kidnapper

MAGUINDANAO --- The Army’s 33rdInfantry Battalion turned over to the police on Wednesday a Moro bandit implicated in the abduction of merchant Pipaw Ang in Mlang town in North Cotabato in 1996.Lt. Col. Harold Cabunoc, commanding officer of the 33rdIB, said Adam Ugalingan and a companion, Pahamudin, were intercepted by soldiers while trying to smuggle two M1 Garand rifles into the town proper of General Pendatun town in Maguindanao from somewhere in the province. They were riding a motorcycle together. The rifles were wrapped in a multi-purpose farm sack, Cabunoc said.The duo was immediately held by soldiers led by 33rdIB’s Captain Rogelio Agustin, Jr., for failing to present documents for their rifles.Cabunoc said the suspects even introduced themselves as members of the MILF as an apparent excuse for their carrying of unlicensed rifles. They were immediately turned over to the municipal police for detention and prosecution, Cabunoc said.Cabunoc said they learned from barangay folk and local officials that Ugalingan was one of the gunmen who snatched Ang in nearby Mlang town about a decade ago.The kidnappers released Ang, of mixed Filipino-Chinese descent, after receiving a hefty ransom.Senior Superintendent Agustin Tello, director of the Maguindanao provincial police, said they will inform the North Cotabato provincial police office of Ugalingan’s arrest.Chief Superintendent Reuben Theodore Sindac, regional police director of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, lauded the 33rdIB for having nabbed Ugalingan and his companion.