DATU ODIN SINSUAT, Maguindanao Norte — Local police here disclosed that authorities recovered on Sunday afternoon high-powered firearms from a vehicle abandoned by armed occupants at a checkpoint in Barangay Kurintem.

Datu Odin Sinsuat Municipal Police Station chief Lt. Colonel Ismael Madin on Monday narrated that three armed men managed to escape following a brief firefight near a police-army checkpoint along the national highway.

"Police and Army personnel were conducting a checkpoint when a white minivan with plate number WOW-128 arrived but refused to stop when flagged down for inspection," Madin said.

Instead, the men inside the vehicle fired at the lawmen, resulting in a brief firefight before they escaped.

"Nobody was hurt on the government side, and we suspect one of the gunmen was injured," Madin said, adding that the suspects could be gunrunners.

He added that police have persons of interest but probers are still digging deeper, including a ballistic test on the seized firearms.

Found inside the vehicle were an M14 rifle, an M16 rifle, an M-79 grenade launcher, and ammunition for a .60-caliber machine gun.