Suspect in 3 high-profile crimes arrested in Sultan Kudarat town

COTABATO CITY --- The police arrested Sunday in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao a suspect in three high-profile crimes whose 12 alleged co-perpetrators together perished in a clash with policemen in January.

Police Major Esmael Madin, provincial officer for Maguindanao of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, said Monday suspect Mike Igal is now clamped down at CIDG-BAR’s detention facility.

He yielded voluntarily when CIDG-BAR agents, backed by members of the Maguindanao provincial police and the Sultan Kudarat municipal police station, served him three different warrants for his arrest in Barangay Limbo in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao at about 5:00 p.m. Sunday.  

Brig. Gen. Eden Ugale, director of the Police Regional Office-BAR, said Igal is a follower of the slain criminal gang leader Pendatun Talusan who was killed, along with 11 followers, in a clash with members of the elite Special Action Force in Barangay Limbo early this year.

A SAF operative was killed while four others were wounded in the incident.

Agents of the CIDG-BAR and a SAF team from PRO-BAR were to peacefully arrest Talusan then for heinous offenses but the operation turned haywire when he and 11 followers shot with assault rifles the policemen approaching their hideout in Barangay Limbo.

The provocation sparked a gunfight that resulted in the death of Talusan and his cohorts, felled one after another by SAF personnel in a commando-style maneuver that lasted for about five hours.

Madin said the team that arrested Igal was armed with three warrants for his arrest --- one for double frustrated murder, another for robbery with homicide and, the third, for vehicle theft.

Ugale on Monday lauded the CIDG-BAR, the Maguindanao provincial police office and the Sultan Kudarat municipal police force for the arrest of Igal.