Wanted kidnapper killed in Marawi shootout
COTABATO CITY --- A police team killed in a brief shootout Thursday in Marawi City a kidnapper who was among top ten most wanted persons in Lanao del Sur.
Colopoy Ayonan died from multiple gunshot wounds sustained in an encounter with combined personnel of the Lanao del Sur provincial police and the Army’s 82nd Infantry Battalion under the 103rd Brigade.
Col. Madzgani Mukaram, director of the Lanao del Sur provincial police, said Friday policemen were to peacefully arrest Ayunan and a relative, Khadafi Ayonan, but they both resisted, sparking a gunfight.
The warrant for their arrest was issued by the Regional Trial Court Branch 9 in Marawi City, where they are facing kidnapping cases.
Khadafi, a former barangay chairman in Piagapo town in Lanao del Sur, managed to escape with the help of his son, Asnawi, while Colopoy traded shots with the team dispatched to serve them the warrants for their arrest.
Asnawi, a member of the Citizens Armed Forces Geographical Unit, was arrested and detained for preventing the arrest of his father and for possession of an assault rifle.
Mukaram said investigators found in the hideout of the Ayonans two 9 millimeter pistols, an M16 assault rifle and two sachets of methamphetamine hydrochloride, or shabu.
Mukaram said they will continue to locate Khadafi with the help of local officials in Marawi City. (May 8,2020)