2 persons of interest in Jolo blast yield to police
Credit to Author: Tempo Desk| Date: Wed, 30 Jan 2019 10:28:03 +0000
Two persons of interest in the deadly bombing at the Jolo Cathedral in Jolo, Sulu last Sunday surrendered to authorities on Wednesday to clear their names and deny their involvement in the terror attack, the Philippine National Police revealed.
Chief Supt. Amador Corpus, director of the PNP-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, said the two young men, a 19-year-old student and a 24-year-old teacher, turned themselves in to police around 10 a.m.
One of the surrenderees include the man caught in a closed-circuit television footage wearing a blue and green jacket whom the police and military claimed to be alias “Kamah,” the one who supposedly detonated the bombs and brother of slain Abu Sayyaf Group bombmaker Surakah Ingog.
The deadly blast left at least 21 dead and over 100 others injured.
On the other hand, the other surrenderee was the one caught in a CCTV footage wearing a backpack whom Kamah allegedly handed out the triggering device after detonating the bombs.
The two men admitted they were the ones seen on the CCTV footage obtained by the authorities but both of them denied they were part of the Ajang-Ajang Group and participated in any terror attack last Sunday.
According to Corpus, the man wearing the blue and green jacket claimed he was buying goods at the market for the death anniversary of his father when the explosion happened. The man wearing a backpack claimed he was only buying medicines at a nearby pharmacy.
The two men also denied they knew the man wearing a black shirt, who is the third person-of-interest caught in a CCTV footage. They said they sought the help of local government officials of Jolo to surrender to the authorities out of fear for their lives.
Corpus said the two men were turned over to the Special Investigation Task Group Jolo and their backgrounds were already being checked.