Cop missing, 3 others hurt in clash with smugglers off GenSan

GENERAL SANTOS CITY -- A maritime police officer has gone missing while three others were wounded in an encounter with suspected smugglers Thursday dawn in the seas off a coastal village here.

Lt. Col. Jimeper Gamido, deputy chief of the Regional Maritime Unit (RMU)-12, said a team from the 1201st maritime police station was patrolling near Purok Kulasi, Barangay Labangal around 4 a.m. when they clashed with a group of armed men.

Gamido said the operatives were patrolling the area onboard rubber boat due to reports of an incoming shipment of smuggled cigarettes from Indonesia.

As the team was passing near the shores of Purok Kulasi, Gamido said an undetermined number of armed men aboard a motorized banca reportedly opened fire at them.

The operatives, led by Master Sgt. Jose Albert Dinio, managed to return fire but their rubber boat was hit during the initial volley of shots and eventually capsized, he said.

Master Sgt. Edilberto Bernardino, who was wounded in the encounter, went missing after the rubber boat sank.

The wounded police officers, who were rescued by their responding colleagues, were identified as Staff Sgts. Rodrigo Salmon, Roger Agodania and Edwin Tubig Jr.

Gamido said the three policemen are undergoing treatment at the Mindanao Medical Center.

He said teams from the RMU-12, Philippine Coastguard, Philippine Navy and other support units were immediately dispatched to search the missing policeman.

“The search (for Bernardino) and the pursuit operations are still ongoing,” he told PNA in a phone interview around 5 p.m.

Col. Aden Lagradante, city police director, said they deployed teams near the site to assist the search operations and the manhunt against the suspects.

He said a joint team from the City Mobile Force Company and the RMU-12 recovered at least 663 reams of smuggled cigarettes from Indonesia near the encounter site. (PNA)