AFP to probe source of Maute Group weaponry: spokesperson

Armed Forces of the Philippines spokesman Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla. (PCOO photo)

MANILA — The military will trace the source of the Maute Group’s high-powered firearms and ammunition once Marawi City has been cleared of terrorists, its spokesperson said Thursday.

“On the firearms they are using against government security troops, it looks like they have stockpiled them for some time, and we have captured a lot of them in the past few days. We will know where they acquired them once our investigation starts,” Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) spokesperson, Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla, said in Filipino.

While he did not identify any possible supplier, Padilla said they are not discounting the possibility that the group’s weapons and ammunition are sourced from the black market or from undisciplined government security force personnel.

He added that some of these weapons could have come from police and jail facilities that they attacked, looted and set afire after freeing the prisoners last week.