Bus bombing suspect in Cotabato arrested in Maguindanao del Sur
INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
COTABATO CITY – Police authorities in Maguindanao del Sur arrested on Monday one of the suspects in the bombing of a bus in Tulunan, Cotabato province in 2021.
Brig. Gen. Romeo Macapaz, police director of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), identified the suspect only as “Alias Tasly,” of Barangay Midpandacan, Gen. Salipada K. Pendatun town in Maguindanao del Sur.
Macapaz said joint police forces from PRO-BAR Regional Special Operations Team, Police Mobile Force Company and Police Regional Intelligence Unit conducted at the town’s public market in Barangay Badak, Gen. Salipada K. Pendatun, at 3 p.m. on Monday.
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The police forces were armed with arrest warrants for murder issued by Regional Trial Court Branch 15 in Shariff Aguak, Maguindanao del Sur, and for murder and multiple murder issued by RTC Branch 23 in Kidapawan City.
“No bail was recommended in his two warrants of arrest,” Macapaz said.
According to Macapaz, “Tasly” was one of the suspects who planted an improvised bomb at a passenger waiting shed in Tulunan, Cotabato that set off as a bus of the Yellow Bus Line (YBL) arrived on January 27, 2021.
The blast killed an ambulant vendor and injured five other people.
Police investigators in 2021 said the bus bombing was carried out by Dawla Islamiyah terrorists who have been mulcting YBL and had threatened to bomb the bus company if their demands are ignored.
Macapaz said “Alias Tasly,” who is among the most wanted persons in BARMM, is now under the custody of Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG)-Maguindanao provincial field unit in Cotabato City.
