The alleged specimen from the remains of slain bomb maker Abdul Basit Usman is already with the Philippine National Police’s crime laboratory, PNP spokesperson Senior Supt. Bartolome Tobias confirmed on Friday.
Basit Usman, the terrorist-bomber who is responsible for the countless deaths of civilians in a series of bombings in Mindanao, was killed in a shoot-out in Guindulungan, Maguindanao, on May 3. AFP
However, Tobias said the PNP had yet to verify if the specimen belonged to Usman, who was killed in a Moro Islamic Liberation Front-controlled area on Sunday in Guindulungan, Maguindanao province.
He also refused to specify if the DNA sample given to the PNP was Usman’s severed finger or his fingerprint.
“In coordination with the Armed Forces of the Philippines, we will subject all the data that we gathered in a test. So we can come up with a categorical claim that it was really Usman who got killed. Although we have a strong belief that it is him, we just have to support the belief with proof or evidence,” Tobias said in an interview with the media.
“We have to prove it if it really came from him (Usman). So there has to be somebody who should swear or make a statement,” he added.
Tobias also asked for patience as the investigation would take time because of geographical considerations.
The government had placed a P6.3-million bounty on Usman’s head, apart from the United States government’s $1 million reward.
Asked if there had been individuals claiming the reward for Usman’s killing, he said no one had come up yet to the PNP to claim the money. With Melizza Jane Tacang