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Monday, January 19, 2004
2 Pentagon members slain
TWO suspected leaders of the Pentagon kidnap gang, tagged as behind a bloody abduction try on a Chinese-Filipino businessman in Sultan Kudarat province last year, were killed while another was arrested following an encounter with government operatives in SK Pendatun town, Maguindanao Thursday.
Chief Insp. Raul Supiter, Tacurong City police director, identified the slain suspects as Macapagal Mabang alias Commander Macapagal and his brother Mutin alias Commander Resmie, both residents of Barangay Gaonan in M'lang, North Cotabato.
He said the two suspects were killed during a shootout with joint military and police in Barangay Bulod, SK Pendatun at about 11:00 Thursday.
Four men were initially arrested, but only one of them, identified as Aladin Lanawi, was held for further investigation.
Supiter said the duo is allegedly among those who led the failed kidnapping of rice trader Roberto Ang in Tacurong City on Sept. 1 last year.
"They were positively identified by several witnesses as among those who figured in the (Sept. 1) raid," Supiter said in a phone interview.
They were charged with attempted kidnapping, multiple murder and multiple frustrated murder along with 10 other people, some of whom were still unidentified.
About a dozen heavily armed men stormed a rice mill in Tacurong City owned by Ang in an attempt to kidnap him. The abduction was foiled, but the carnage left six people dead, including two police officers.
Supiter said government operatives, composed of elements from the army's 301st Infantry Brigade and the Sultan Kudarat and Maguindanao police units, came to area to serve a warrant of arrest against the two suspects at a house reportedly owned by Macapagal Mabang.
But he said the Mabang brothers, who were then allegedly having a meeting with their group, immediately opened fire when law enforcers approached the area.
He said the two suspects, who were armed with handguns, were killed in the ensuing firefight, while other members of the group reportedly managed to escape.
Meantime, aside from the Ang kidnapping try, Supiter said the Mabang brothers also have a standing warrant of arrest for the murder of a barangay chairman of Barangay Gaonan, M'lang in December 2002.
He said witnesses also identified Mutin Mabang and Lanawi as among those allegedly behind the killing of two Tacurong City government employees along the national highway in Buluan, Maguindanao on Oct. 25 last year.
Killed in the attack were Richard Escobia, acting treasurer of Tacurong City in Sultan Kudarat, and Aileen Lustre, also an employee of the treasurer's office.
Witnesses said three armed men flagged down a convoy of three vehicles carrying the group.
At least 15 heavily armed men surrounded the stalled vehicles and immediately shot Escobia and Lustre, who were riding on different vehicles.
(January 19, 2004 issue)
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