P15-M anti-terror kit for South Cotabato cops

KORONADAL CITY -- The United States government turned over Friday a post-blast investigation kit worth P15 million to South Cotabato provincial office.

Representatives of the US Embassy handed the sophisticated gadgets to the provincial command headed by Senior Superintendent Nilo P. Wong, as part of US campaign against terrorism.

For updates from around the country, follow Sun.Star on Twitter

SPO1 Samuel Bascon Jr., a US-trained bomb demolition expert of the provincial command, said the gadgets are a big boost to help them conduct efficient post-blast investigation activities.

"The gadgets will help us preserve vital pieces of evidence as well as secure investigators from secondary blasts," Bascon said.

He recalled that in a past bus bombing incident in this city, a secondary blast occurred because of the failure of bomb experts, who have been aided by sniffer dogs, to detect an unexploded bomb. They conducted manual search.

Fortunately, no one from among the bomb investigators was killed or injured in that secondary blast.

In recent years, several deadly bombings have rocked this city, the seat of government of Central Mindanao, a region suffering from peace and order problems.

Bascon said the new gadgets augmented the assistance provided also by the US government about two years ago to the provincial police command.

The US Government earlier gave the provincial command P10 million worth of bomb detection equipment also in line with the fight against terrorism, he said.

It includes a bomb suit kit, x-ray machine and detector, among others.

The US embassy extended the assistance through its Anti-Terror Assistance Program. (BSS)