The police are now in custody of a municipal councilor implicated in the bombing in Shariff Saydona Mustapha, Maguindanao del Sur, that left two barangay leaders dead and injured eight villagers earlier this year.
The 44-year-old suspect, Allan Tahir Ganoy, is a member of the municipal council in Datu Salibo town, which is close to Shariff Saydona Mustapha.
Brig. Gen. Jaysen De Guzman, director of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, told reporters on Friday, October 17, that Ganoy was arrested by policemen near the Cotabato Airport in Barangay Awang in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao del Norte on last Saturday, October 11.
‘He will soon be prosecuted properly in court,’ De Guzman said on Friday.
Ganoy yielded peacefully to agents of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region and policemen from the Highway Patrol Group, the Aviation Security Group and operatives of different PRO-BAR units who flagged down his vehicle near the Cotabato Airport and showed him a warrant for his arrest from a local court.
Ganoy was tagged in the roadside bombing in Barangay Ganta in Shariff Saydona Mustapha, Maguindanao del Sur, early this year, that left his known political adversaries, Manaot Silongan, then chairman of Barangay Pendeten in Datu Salibo, and his constituent-councilor, Salik Katua, dead and injured eight other villagers
Silongan, Katua and their companions were walking along a highway in Barangay Ganta when an improvised explosive device planted along the route exploded, set off from a distance using a mobile phone.
Silongan died instantly from the blast while Katua succumbed to shrapnel wounds in a hospital several hours later.
Officials of the Datu Salibo Municipal Police Station and relatives of the slain barangay officials cooperated in filing double murder and multiple frustrated murder cases against Ganoy for allegedly masterminding the deadly bombing.