Suspect in mayor’s slay arrested

One of the suspects in the killing of the town mayor of San Joaquin, Iloilo and the wounding of his three supporters last May 2000 was arrested by elements of the police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) in San Juan.

The suspect, Thomix Segumalian, did not resist arrest when cornered by a team headed by Senior Inspector Renato Quiapon of the CIDG-Detection and Special Ope-rations Division (DESOD) at the third floor of the a three-story residential building at 262 C. Leyva St. at about 5:30 p.m. Friday.

Segumalian was the second of the five suspects to be arrested for the killing of Mayor Jesus Sibya last May 11, 2000 along Rizal street in Purok 1, Barangay Poblacion. Three of Sibya’s supporters were also wounded.

Several days after the murder, police arrested Sibya’s political rival, the suspected mastermind, Sebastian Serum. He is now being tried in the sala of Judge Danilo Galvan of the Guimbal Regional Trial Court Branch 67.

Segumalian and three other suspects went into hiding right after Sibya’s murder.

Quiapon said a woman called him up Friday informing him of the presence of Segumalian at the third floor of a building in San Juan owned by the suspect’s aunt. The caller gave Segumalian’s description and the tip turned out to be positive after a few days of surveillance by Quiapon’s men.

By virtue of the arrest warrant issued by Judge Galvan, Quiapon arrested Segumalian who yielded $1,000 and P5,000 in his wallet. All the money was turned over later to the suspect’s wife. The raiding team failed to find any firearm in the suspect’s hiding place.

Segumalian was surprised as to how he was traced despite the fact that he never left his "safehouse" except at night. — Non Alquitran