Bar blast suspect now in NBI custody
-A A +AWednesday, October 27, 2010
MANILA (Updated 12:02 p.m.) -- The suspect of a grenade explosion that rocked a university in Manila was turned over to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Wednesday.
The suspect surrendered to Vice President Jejomar Binay before dawn Wednesday.
Forty-seven people were injured on September 26 after a loud explosion rocked the De La Salle University campus along Taft Avenue where the last day of Bar examinations took place.
Reports said the suspect, whom Binay identified as Tony Nepomuceno, is currently working at a call center. He was a student of Manuel L. Quezon University and a member of the Alpha Phi Omega. Binay was also a member of the fraternity group.
The Vice President said the suspect maintained his innocence and denied perpetrating the explosion.
He added there was no warrant of arrest against the suspect, saying he is just at the NBI for investigation.
Binay said he cooperated on the investigation of the incident as requested by Justice Secretary Leila de Lima.
De Lima, he said, vowed to respect the suspect's rights during the course of the investigation.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) earlier gave the suspect until this week to surrender.
On Tuesday, de Lima said the suspect has been identified including his affiliated fraternity group but could not be arrested yet as “certain group” is protecting him.
De Lima did not name the group, but she gave clues that this could be a fraternity that was earlier believed to have engaged in a gang war with another group on the day of the explosion.
“We know who he is, his name, which group he is affiliated. We got already his transcripts of records, we know his identity. We believe there are people protecting him, at this very moment but while we know his legal identity, there’s an ongoing operation to pinpoint his exact whereabouts,” she said.
Last Saturday, de Lima asked the suspect to surrender after his identity had been confirmed by the NBI, which tracked his hometown.
The suspect was earlier put under the Bureau of Immigration’s watchlist so he would not be able to leave the country. (Sunnex)
Local news
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