Cagayan de Oro City – Two suspected members of the New People’s Army (NPA) were captured in the course of a joint operation by the Army’s 2nd Special Forces Company and police personnel from the Provincial Public Safety Company (PPSC) after a firefight in the town of Quezon in Bukidnon province Wednesday morning.
“Our operating troops under the 2nd SF together with the PPSC encountered several NPA rebels along Purok 8, Barangay Kiburiao in the town of Quezon in Bukidnon at around 6:30 Wednesday morning, August 2, 2017. This was after our troops received reports that a group of NPA rebels had been sighted in the area. The ensuing firefight lasted around 5 minutes after which our pursuing troops apprehended two suspected members of the NPA,” Captain Joe Patrick Martinez, spokesperson of the Army’s 4th Infantry Division, reported.
Martinez identified the captured suspects as “Ruel Cololot, who we believe is a bomb maker and an expert in making Improvised Explosive Devices (IED), and Ramil Cololot who was carrying a 57 mm recoilless rifle.”
Police Supt. Lemuel Gonda, Public Information Officer of the Police Regional Office 10 (PRO-10) stated the said suspected NPA rebels have been taken into police custody.
“Several bomb making devices, firearms were also recovered in the area. These included Glock Cal. 40 pistol; two cal. .38 revolvers; 57mm recoilless rifle; two laptops; five 10-kilogram PVC anti-vehicle command-wire Improvised Explosive Devices (IED); four pieces 11-kilogram steel anti-vehicle command green wire IED; five 2.5-kilogram PVC improvised black claymore mine; 10 green PVC Anti-personnel explosive devices; 200 meters of yellow detonating cord; 10 meters red safety fuse; four improvised black galvanometers; four improvised blue testers; remote control receivers and transceivers, ammunitions and other materials needed to create IEDs,” Gonda said.
Gonda added that the suspects, IED and bomb making components, paraphernalia, firearms and subversive documents were turned over to Bukidnon Provincial Police Office in the office of Provincial Director, Police Senior Superintendent Benedicto T Pintor for proper disposition and case filing.
Maj. Gen. Benjamin R. Madrigal Jr, commander of the 4th Infantry Division, pointed out in a statement that the operation would not have been successful without the cooperation of many sectors.
