DILG: Maute group frees 107 inmates from Marawi City jail

At least 107 inmates have been freed by 50 heavily armed members of Maute group who barged into Marawi City Jail and Malabang District Jail Tuesday evening, Interior and Local Government officer-in-charge Catalino Cuy confirmed Wednesday.

Cuy said based on the report relayed to him by Bureau of Jail Management and Penology- Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao director Mamerto Delloro, Jr., members of Maute group entered the jail compound around 8 p.m. and disarmed and tied up the 12 jail officers of the facilities.

He said the Maute group members destroyed the jail’s padlocks and let all the inmates out from their cells.

Cuy said the armed men also carted away assorted issued firearms of the BJMP personnel, two SUVs, two motorcycles, and mobile phones owned by the jail guards on duty.

“Two prison vans were also commandeered by the armed men and according to our sources, they were using said vehicles as they moved inside the city,” Cuy said in a statement.

He said none of the jail officers were hurt in the incident.

Cuy said the Bureau of Fire Protection-ARMM also reported that the terror group took away a Rosenbauer fire truck from Marantao Fire Station, an adjacent municipality of Marawi City before the armed attack took place.

“The armed group used the said fire truck as their getaway vehicle to the national highway going to Iligan City. But when the armed clashes died down later that day, the said fire truck was retrieved by a fire volunteer and a civilian at the New Bridge Pumping, National Highway of Marawi City,” Cuy said.

He expressed hope that the confrontation between the military and the armed men will remain confined in Marawi City and that there will be no more spill over in neighboring areas.

Cuy said he was in direct contact with PNP Deputy Director Gen. Ramon C. Apolinario as they worked together for more updates from the ground especially on the wounded police and military personnel, including those men in uniform who had been reportedly killed in the initial firefight Tuesday.

“As part of our newly given mandate at the DILG to look after our police and military, we exert extra efforts to know how our men are doing, especially during these difficult times,” Cuy said. —NB, GMA News