The province has always been an “election hot spot” during local and national elections, thus the order of BARMM police chief Brig- General Eden T. Ugale came out last Monday, was purposely aimed at ensuring that guns are not used during the conduct of the 2022 elections in the region.
“This is one step to help ensure loose firearms are not used during the 2022 elections,” The police general said in a statement released at Camp S.K. Pendatun, the headquarters of the PRO-BARMM here.
It can be recalled that earlier a couple was arrested with a cache of high-powered guns which are feared to be used during the campaign period.
As the PNP-BARMM chief ordered, a series of arrests in Parang town of a CAFGU member and his wife for allegedly selling firearms.
The arresting PNP officers identified the CAFGU as Akay Awa, 50; and his wife Arbaya, 44 of Barangay Manion, this town.
In Malabang, Lanal del Sur, elements of the PNP and Marines seized unlicensed assorted firearms and explosives from private armed groups in the province, who are under the control and protections of some politicians in the region.
The seized firearms from the arrested couple, the general said, include one (1) M16 rifle; two (2) caliber 45 pistols; ammunition and marked money used during the transactions.
“The militiaman and his wife agreed to sell the firearms to an undercover police agent and Barangay Manion was the handover area on Saturday night,” Ugale reported to newsmen.
The suspects, Awa and his wife, were surrounded by the government’s PNP and Marines operatives during the raid in which they also did not resist arrest.
The couple, it was learned, will face charges for violation of RA 10591, or the “Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition Regulation Act” – PNA
 top brass in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).){kind=link}