Monday, May 12, 2008 2 suspects in tuna factory blast nabbed
AUTHORITIES have arrested two suspects in the deadly blast in front of a tuna canning factory in General Santos in January, police officials said Friday.
Senior Supt. Casimero B. Medes, Chief Information Officer of the Central Mindanao Police Office, said a team headed by Senior Insp. Edgar Yago collared the suspects one after the other last week in this city.
Medes said Dani Ibrahim Pendatun also known as Dani Latip, 36, married and jobless was arrested at his hideout in Purok 6, Lanton, Barangay Apopong on the strength on an arrest warrant for the blast outside Philbest Canning Corp that killed four people and wounded 27 others.
"He managed to sneak out [from his hideout] but the police team chased him until he was captured," Medes said.
Pendatun denied the charges, saying his surname is not Latip but Pendatun, Medes said, adding the arresting team provided detailed information on the suspect's role in the bombing.
The suspect is facing charges of murder and frustrated murder and no bail was recommended for his release.
Medes said Pendatun's fall came hours after the arrest of another bombing suspect identified Choy Thaki alias Thong.
Five suspects on the arrest warrant remain at-large namely Beh Badz, Abu Sayop, Jordan Acmad, Roy Seddic and Ustadz Karahudin, but Mr. Medes said that authorities are going after them.
Philbest is owned by local fishing magnate Rodrigo E. Rivera, Sr. The tuna factory is one of his many businesses under the RD Group of Companies.
The explosion last January 30 at Philbest, one of the six tuna canneries in this city, happened as factory workers were changing the evening's shift.
Rivera has described the attack as an act of terrorism, contradicting police theories it could have been caused by a labor dispute and supposed extortion demands of a gang.
"The truth of the matter was that the bombing incident was a plain and simple barbaric terrorist attack consistently aimed at spreading fear to the public in general," the fishing tycoon said.
Rivera has denied they receive any extortion demands nor "there was a labor dispute" in any of its subsidiaries to cause the attack.
Days after the explosion, the Al Khobar extortion gang claimed responsibility for the attack, through a telephone call to Mayor Rodolfo Gantuangco of Kidapawan City, which the group also earlier bombed.
Authorities have blamed the Al Khobar for the series of explosions on bus companies and other business establishments in Central Mindanao in recent years. (BSS)
