2025 elections: Cops arrest 4 heavily armed men in Maguindanao del Sur

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COTABATO CITY – Police in Buluan town, Maguindanao del Sur arrested on Monday four men armed with assault rifles as they tried to pass a police outpost.

Former Buluan Vice Mayor King Mangudadatu said the gunmen were onboard a silver sedan and were flagged down at 10 a.m.

Reports from the Buluan municipal police station showed that the suspects yielded four high-powered guns, license plates, ammunition, and personal belongings.

They were suspected of sowing terror in Buluan, a town with 24,078 registered voters and placed under the control of the Commission on Elections due to intense political rivalries and violence before today’s balloting.

Colonel Bobby Ryan Paloma, Maguindanao del Sur police provincial director, has ordered an investigation and directed the police to intensify security measures as elections progressed Monday.

Early in the day, police in Buluan also arrested about 50 persons, including teenagers, who were from Gen. Santos City, Sultan Kudarat, and Bukidnon provinces for entering the town with newly issued voter registration records, a hand grenade, and metal bats.

They admitted to having been paid to vote in Buluan but refused to reveal who commissioned them to travel to Maguindanao del Sur.

They are now undergoing investigation at the Maguindanao del Sur police provincial office in Shariff Aguak town.