One of 9 ex-cops in killings of soldiers captured in Sulu

From the Mindanao Examiner (Apr 17, 2022): One of 9 ex-cops in killings of soldiers captured in Sulu

SECURITY FORCES captured one of nine former policemen accused in the June 2020 killing of four undercover army intelligence soldiers in the Jolo town in the southern Philippine province of Sulu.

The Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) said Abdelzhimer Padjiri was cornered in a neighbor’s house while attempting to evade arrest. Members of the CIDG and 35th Infantry Battalion captured Padjiri on Friday in the village of San Raymundo.

Padjiri was among the group of policemen dismissed from the service after killing Maj. Marvin Indammog, Capt. Irwin Managuelod, Sgt. Jaime Velasco and Cpl. Abdal Asula, all members of the Intelligence Service Unit.

Padjiri was charged of four counts of murder along with Hanie Baddiri, Iskandar Susulan, Ernisar Sappal, Sulki Andaki, Mohamad Nur Pasani, Almudzrin Hadjaruddin, Alkajal Mandangan and Rajiv Putalan. All of the accused are still at-large.

“After more than a year of hiding, Padjiri was apprehended on April 15 in San Raymundo in Jolo. In his attempt to escape from the arrest, the suspect jumped out of the fence of the target house and entered the house of Mudzna Hamsaji, who reported the presence of an unidentified person for trespassing which prompted the CIDG personnel to effect the arrest,” the police said.

Prior to their indictment, the police released the accused members of the Jolo Municipal Police Office in the absence of arrest warrants and eventually went on hiding.

According to the army, the soldiers, all clad in civilian clothes, were driving a car on a covert mission to capture a pair suicide bombers, when policemen intercepted them in Jolo town and ordered the agents to come with them to the police headquarters so they can verify their identities. But the police said cops opened fire on the soldiers after they sped off and allegedly tried to shoot the lawmen, an allegation strongly denied by the military.

Because of the killings, President Rodrigo Duterte even flew to Zamboanga City and spoke with military commanders in an effort to defuse the brewing tension between policemen and soldiers in Sulu. Duterte promised for an impartial investigation, assuring justice for the slain soldiers.

“Pumunta ako dito (sa Zamboanga) hihingi ako ng tulong ninyo. I am pleading. Nakikiusap ako. Nihangyo ko ninyo na tabangan ko ninyo pagpakalma to keep the waters in the meantime calm and we wait for the result of the investigation. I am giving you my word of honor that the investigation will proceed to find out the truth unfettered, unbridled by anybody except ‘yung sa trabaho. Walang makialam at ‘yung totoo lang. Iyon ang maasahan ninyo. At kung sino man ang may kasalanan, then he has to pay for it.”

“What I’m saying is we’re trying to figure out how we can in the meantime do something to give you the assurance that justice will be done. So I’m giving it to you, I said, as a word of honor of a President na I will find out the truth from the investigators and I hope that it would satisfy all,” he told the military, adding he was saddened by the incident and appealed to the military to stay calm as he ordered an investigation into the killings.

Brigadier General Manuel Abu, the former regional police director, told UNTV on July 3 – the same day Duterte flew to Zamboanga City to meet with military commanders, that the killings may be connected to the anti-drug operations of the police. “Malalim kasi ang istorya, itong mga pulis ko dito noong Marso 14 (2020), may napatay na involved sa drugs yun DEU natin. It so happen na yun driver noong apat (na sundalo) is a relative nitong napatay,” said Abu.

UNTV reported that members of the police Drug Enforcement Unit and municipal police mounted an anti-narcotic operation on March 14 and killed suspected drug pushers Albasir Bakil Jinul. It said Jinul was a relative of Asula, one of the slain soldiers.

However, it was unclear on the UNTV report if the slaying of Jinul was connected to the killings of the soldiers. Police initially said the killing of the soldiers was a mis-encounter, but later corrected this report and said it was a “shooting” incident.

Abu said the car used by the soldiers had been spotted the past days prior to the shooting incident near the DEU office in Jolo and this prompted the police to surveil the vehicle. “Tawag nung isang taga-DEU na yun sighted na sasakyan noong isang araw ay nakita na naman doon sa tapat niya, eh yun tinambayan dati doon ng mga yun ay DEU personnel din, so natawagan na,” he told UNTV.

Because of this, he said a team of policemen and DEU personnel arrived in a patrol car and inspected the car and its passengers, who turned out to be armed and identified themselves as soldiers. But the soldiers failed to show any identification cards.

“So sabi ng pulis para hindi na lang sila magtalo doon sa daan, doon na lang sila mag-usap sa istasyon para under investigation talaga. Pagdating sa may police station imbes na tumigil sila, nauuna yun sasakyan ng army, eh tumakbo, hinabol ng pulis na nakasakay ng mobile, mobile naman ang dala ng pulis, eh sila naka-sibilyan,” Abu said in the interview which can be accessed on this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okEV_PL_SMM&feature=youtu.be

The UNTV also showed video clips of the soldiers’ car speeding past the police station with the patrol car eventually giving chase. It showed armed policemen on foot heading to the car that stopped nearby. The next video showed the soldiers lying dead on the street.

Another clip showed the arrival of armed soldiers in civilian clothes and one of them picked up an automatic rifle near one of the slain soldiers. While another soldier opened the car’s door and inspected the vehicle. Abu said: “Baka pakasuhan ko pa sila ng obstruction of justice eh kasi pagka-ganyan na nay namatay na hindi dapat guluhin yun encounter site, ginulo nila.”

Colonel Ramon Zagala, then was an army spokesman, admitted what the soldiers did was wrong. “Chineck nila yun pulse kung may buhay and secured the vehicle, so from take down team to rescue, to recovery at makikita mo rin sa video na parang may bumubukas ng pinto, at yun bumubukas ng pinto ay brother ng isa namin operative kasi alam niya na yun brother niya ang driver, so out of his instinct, sini-secure niya ang gamit ng brother niya,” he said.

The Western Mindanao Command previously said the killings were not connected to illegal drugs and the National Bureau of Investigation was handling the case.

Three months after Abu's interview, he was re-assigned to lead the Directorate for Integrated Police Operations in Visayas.

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