PHILIPPINE National Police Anti-Kidnapping Group (PNP-AKG) director, Brigadier General Jonnel C. Estomo yesterday announced the killing of one of the country’s most wanted kidnappers-drug traffickers during a shootout with officers out to arrest him in Lanao del Sur early morning Wednesday.
In a report to PNP chief, General Camilo Pancratius P. Cascolan, the official said that members of the AKG Mindanao Field Unit were about to arrest suspect Aleman Bantuas Boratong alias ‘Boy Negro’ in Barangay Poblacion 4, Tamarac, Lanao del Sur around 3:30 a.m. Wednesdaywhen he started shooting at the officers.
“Our operatives were forced to return fire in self-defense hitting the suspect who died while being taken to a local hospital for treatment,” said Estomo.
The official described Boratong as a member of the notorious Abul Radia Kidnapping-for-Ransom Group operating in Lanao del Sur and Lanao del Norte provinces and a high-profile member of the Amin Imam Boratong Drug Group which gained notoriety for operating a shabu ‘tiangge’ in Pasig City in the early 2000.
Estomo said that members of the AKG-MFU led by Colonel Alex C. Fulgar, backed up by operatives from the PNP Special Action Force and the Lanao del Sur Police Provincial Office tried to arrest the suspect on the strength of several warrants issued by different Pasig City Regional Trial Courts.
The suspect is the subject of a warrant of arrest for violation of Republic Act 8294 or the act codifying the laws on unlawful/illegal possession of firearms and ammunition and RA 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 issued by Judge Jennlych Pilar of the Pasig RTC Branch 164; a warrant for violation of RA 10591 or the Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition Regulations Act of 2013 issued by the Pasig City RTC Branch 157; a warrant of arrest for violation of RA 9165 and RA 1866 or illegal possession of firearms issued by Judge Elisa Sarmiento-Flores of the Pasig City RTC Branch 154.
“We have long considered the suspect as ‘armed and dangerous,’ a wanted suspect known for going in public with bodyguards,” said Estomo.
He said that the suspect fired shots at officers who were approaching his house prompting the lawmen to retaliate. The suspect was hit in the body and died while being brought to the Global Hospital in Tamparan municipality.
Estomo said that the suspect and his group are wanted for the kidnapping of businesswoman Narija Saldivar in Iligan City in 2010; the kidnapping on March 19, 2017 of Hadji Zainal Datumanong; the kidnapping of Engineer Liling Lanto Ibrahim in Marantao, Lanao del Sur on July 2017 and the killing of a number of soldiers and policemen in Lanao del Sur and Lanao del Norte.
Recovered from the possession of the slain suspect were one chamber-loaded caliber .45 pistol and six heat-sealed plastic sachets containing suspected shabu.
