BARMM cop hurt in clash with drug peddlers cited for gallantry

COTABATO CITY — A policeman on Sunday received a special citation and cash assistance from his superiors for his gallantry in a clash with a notorious drug ring in Barangay Poblacion in Bongao, Tawi-Tawi last Friday. 

Brig. Gen. Prexy Tanggawohn, director of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region (PRO-BAR), personally awarded Patrolman Abdulmijir Usman Kali Jr. with a medal for gallantry and provided him too with a special appreciation plaque for his role in the neutralization of two drug dealers in a brief shootout late Friday at one spot near the public market in Bongao.

Bongao is the capital town of Tawi-Tawi, one of the six provinces in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim in Mindanao.

A member of PRO-BAR's Regional Mobile Force Battalion-14, Kali, IS now confined at the West Metro Medical Center in Zamboanga City. He was in a team dispatched to check on reports by villagers about the presence somewhere near the Bongao market of armed drug dealers, who opened fire when they were about to be frisked and disarmed.

Kali, who immediately sustained gunshot wounds in his leg , and his companions managed to return fire, instantly killing two of the suspects, whose companions managed to scamper away, leaving the slain duo behind.

Responding police forensic experts found a .45 caliber pistol each beside the cadavers of the slain drug traffickers and P34,000 worth of shabu in their trouser pockets.

Kali was first rushed to a medical dispensary in Bongao, but was subsequently transported to a more modern hospital in Zamboanga City for medication.

Tanggawohn also provided Kali an initial cash grant that he can spend for his other needs while in the hospital during the simple medal pinning rite that he initiated in the hospital in Zamboanga City, in the presence of other PRO-BAR officials.