GOVERNMENT forces have reportedly neutralized a “notorious criminal gang leader” during an encounter in Maguindanao del Norte on Monday.
The gang leader, identified as Kamlon Manardas Ragundo, 34, was killed in a firefight with the Marine Battalion Landing Team-2 (MBLT-2) that augmented a team from the Philippine National Police’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (CIDG-BARMM) who were on a mission to serve arrest warrants for the crime group based in Barangay Panggao, Barira town.
“Our role was to provide augmentation to the CIDG, but we were fired upon, so we returned fire,” said MBLT-2 commander Lt. Col. John Dela Cruz.
The troops recovered two M16 rifles, grenades, and several rounds of ammunition from Ragundo.
Brig. Gen. Romulo Quemado II, commander of the 1st Marine Brigade, tagged Ragundo’s group as a gun-for-hire gang which was also involved in armed robberies and drug trafficking across five towns in Maguindanao del Norte and Cotabato City.
According to Quemado, the gang maintained links with the Dawlah Islamiya-Hassan terrorist faction led by Alpha King.
The operation occurred a day after Barira town formally declared the Dawlah Islamiya-Hassan group persona as non grata, affirming the municipality’s commitment to supporting security forces.
