BIFF bomber nabbed in NCotabato transferred to Manila

NORTH COTABATO, Philippines - The member of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters arrested Saturday after leaving an improvised explosive along a highway in Midsayap town has been transferred to the central office of the National Bureau of Investigation in Manila.

Senior Inspector Henry Narciso, Midsayap’s deputy police chief, said the NBI will be the lead agency in  the filing in Manila of criminal cases against cashiered bomber Abdulgani Malang  Abbas.

Narciso declined to elaborate why the NBI, which has a regional office in nearby Cotabato City, had taken custody of Abbas, an ethnic Maguindanaon.

Narciso has confirmed, however, that Abbas was immediately transferred to Manila following his arrest last Saturday, accompanied by NBI agents and Supt. Renante Delos Santos, chief of the Midsayap police.

Narciso said it was the local agents of the NBI that informed  the Midsayap police about the supposed bombing last Saturday, which led to the arrest of Abbas.

“One reason for his transfer to Manila is to put him in a place beyond the reach of his accomplices,” Narciso told reporters.

There were incidents in the past when bandits raided detention facilities in Central Mindanao and sprung detained cohorts, among them foreign-trained guerrilla explosives expert.

Abbas was nabbed by  bystanders and policemen while suspiciously moving away from the spot where he left a box containing an IED, not far from the entrance to a roadside hotel in Midsayap.

The IED, fashioned from a live 60 MM mortar round rigged with a blasting mechanism attached to a mobile phone, was deactivated by responding Army bomb experts.

The explosive was placed in a box  that also contained ripe durian fruits. - John Unson