Bomb experts defuse powerful explosive device in Sultan Kudarat

From the Philippine News Agency (Mar 16): Bomb experts defuse powerful explosive device in Sultan Kudarat

Bomb experts rendered safe a powerful improvised explosive device (IED) they recovered from a tricycle plying the Poblacion route in Isulan, Sultan Kudarat, around 11:55 a.m.(Friday), police official said.

Supt. Roel Sermese, chief of the Isulan municipal police station, said elements of the Explosive and Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team from Sultan Kudarat province used an explosive disruptor to render safe the IED.

The IED, placed inside a baggage of vegetables, was left by a still unidentified passenger in a blue tricycle with plate number 3797 MV and driven by a certain Jokarno Galamban Abas, reports said.

Abas told police he was ordered by the suspect to deliver the baggage to a department store located along the national highway.  He said he waited for the suspect to arrive at the store for about 30 minutes.

“But when nobody arrived at the store that was the time the driver sought police assistance. When we checked the baggage, we found out an IED was placed at the bottom part,” said Sermese.

The explosive used a mobile phone as a triggering device and its main charge was a two 60-mm mortar round.  Authorities hinted extortion as a possible motive for the foiled try to plant the bomb in the department store.

Meanwhile, Supt. Rex dela Rosa, Sultan Kudarat police chief, said Abas deserves recognition for his prudence to inform the police of the presence of a suspicious pack in his tricycle.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=507640