Citing plot to bolt North Cotabato bombing suspect, cops bring him to Manila

From the Philippine News Agency (Oct 8): Citing plot to bolt North Cotabato bombing suspect, cops bring him to Manila

Police in Midsayap, North Cotabato has transferred a suspected bomber to Manila to pursue the charges against him as doing it here was risky, a police officer said.

Supt. Renante Delos Santos, Midsayap police chief, escorted Monday the suspect, Abdulagani Malang Abas, 42, along with agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to Manila where he will be subjected to inquest proceedings.

Delos Santos said Army and police intelligence information showed that Abas’ companions have planned to bolt him out of the municipal detention cell following his arrest on Saturday.

Abas, who claimed he was a “habal-habal (passenger motorcycle)” driver, was arrested by alert civilians after he left a box of durian fruit that contained an improvised explosive device along a busy street in Midsayap.

Delos Santos lauded the public, the alert civilians in particular, for their vigilance which led to the foiled bombing attempt along Quezon Avenue in Midsayap where a bus and passenger van terminal was temporarily located.

Abas claimed a woman hired him to bring her to the bus terminal from Barangay Agriculture, also in Midsayap.

He said upon arrival, the woman whom he did not personally knew, left and told him she would just buy something nearby.

But the woman did not show up, Abas said, forcing him to left the box at the roadside fronting the Hill Park Inn and Restaurant. At this point, civilians confronted him why he left the box at a busy street and what it contained.

When village watchmen noticed something extra heavy in the box, they suspected it to be an improvised bomb and they alerted the police.

Bomb experts using bomb sniffing dogs confirmed it was an IED and detonated it while Abas was brought to police office for investigation.

He denied he owned the bomb and insisted the woman owned it.

Citing intelligence information, Delos Santos said the IED was to be brought to Cotabato City through the Weena Bus plying the Davao-Cotabato City route.

The IED was fashioned from 60 mm mortar with battery operated mechanical clock as trigger mechanism.

Midsayap had been the site of recent atrocities perpetrated by Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) blamed by military on the rash of bombings in Maguindanao and North Cotabato.

Before the foiled bombing attempt, the BIFF had attacked six outskirt villages of Midsayap capped by the hostage taking of 13 public school teachers who were later released after being used as human shields.

Delos Santos appealed to residents to continue their vigilance as the town remains in the target list of lawless elements.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=573997