Suspect in Maguindanao massacre arrested; cohort dies

MANILA, Philippines — After years of hiding, the long arms of the law finally caught up with one of the suspects in the Maguindanao massacre.

Brig. Gen. Marni Marcos, director of the Police Regional Office – Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (PRO-BARMM), identified the 47-year-old suspect as Gambayan Kasim alias Lori Alip.

Some 80 other suspects in the massacre — dubbed the deadliest election-related violence in Philippine history and single deadliest attack on journalists in the world — continue to elude arrest despite the lower court’s dispensation of ruling on the case last December.

Meanwhile, police were serving the warrant for Kasim’s arrest Thursday morning when the suspect’s alleged cohort identified as Edsrail Guiomla alias Das Guiomla fired shots at the operatives in Barangay Timbangan, Shariff Aguak in Maguindanao.

Guiomla was rushed to a hospital but he succumbed to gunshot wounds upon arrival.

Recovered from the Guiomla was a caliber .45 and 13 sachets of suspected shabu.

Kasim and the recovered pieces of evidence were brought to PRO-BARMM.