Police are eyeing extortion as behind the recovery of
several explosives inside a passenger bus in Tacurong City
Supt. Junny Buenacosa, Tacurong City police chief, said
Friday the incident could have been meant to “warn and scare” the owners of
Yellow Bus Line Inc. (YBL), which owns the bus unit where the explosives were
found.
He clarified that the recovered explosives did not have
triggering devices, making them incapable of exploding.
“Based on our initial assessment, it appears that the
company was the only target. This could be a part of an extortion activity,” he
said in a radio interview.
Police operatives recovered the explosives at around 11:40
a.m. Thursday inside YBL deluxe bus unit 9208 that was en route to Isulan town
in Sultan Kudarat.
The bus had just left the Tacurong City
Buenacosa said the operatives found an abandoned package
inside the bus that contained two live 60mm mortar shells, a rocket-propelled
grenade “warhead” and a non-electric blasting cap attached to a detonating
cord.
Citing a technical analysis made by the Army’s explosives
ordnance disposal unit, he said the planted explosives were not meant to
inflict damage as they lack any triggering component or device.
The official said that based on their initial investigation,
the explosives were left by three men who boarded the bus near the Tacurong City
He said the three suspects hurriedly alighted from the bus
shortly after it left the Tacurong
City
Buenacosa acknowledged that they were able to find the
explosives based on a tip from a “concerned resident.”
He said the informant gave descriptions of the suspects and
none of them appeared to be among the four bus passengers that they invited for
questioning.
As to suspects, Buenacosa said they are still determining
their identities and their possible groups or affiliations.
But he said they don’t discount the possibility that the
incident could be a handiwork of breakaway rebel faction Bangsamoro Islamic
Freedom Fighters (BIFF).
Authorities had intensified their monitoring against possible
retaliatory attacks by the BIFF as a result of the all-out offensive earlier
launched by the Armed Forces of the Philippines
“Our investigation is still ongoing so we can’t make any
conclusion yet regarding the suspects. We’ve been also coordinating with the
YBL management to shed more light on the extortion angle,” he said.
Olimpio Par, operations manager of the Koronadal City-based
YBL, initially declared that they have not received any recent extortion
demands or threats from any group.
He assured that the company will cooperate with the police
with regards to the ongoing investigation.
The company has also adopted various security measures to
prevent a similar incident in the future, he added.
http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=751883
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