3 arrested in South Cotabato for possession of explosives
Local News • 11:15 AM Mon Sep 13, 2021
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By:
John M. Unson
Welcome market of Banga, South Cotabato (Photo from LGU Banga)
KORONADAL CITY --- Soldiers foiled Sunday an attempt by three persons to smuggle a grenade and an improvised explosive device into the town proper of Banga, South Cotabato.
Col. Jemuel Siason, director of the South Cotabato provincial police, identified the suspects as Merlyn Bansil Guisan, 42, Ronald Olin Bansil, 27, and the 30-year-old Andy Gelodin Meno, now locked in a detention facility of the Banga municipal police.
They were intercepted by personnel of the Army’s 5th Special Forces Battalion in a checkpoint at Lambukay Area in Barangay Lamba in Banga, while on a motorcycle together en route to somewhere in the municipality.
Soldiers led by Sgt. Douglas Bersamin, Jr. found in their bags an MK2 fragmentation grenade and an IED that can be detonated from a distance using a mobile.
Officials of the 5th SF Battalion and the Banga municipal police are convinced the three suspects are members of the New People’s Army.
Siason said Guisan, Bansil and Meno shall be charged with illegal possession of explosives.