Top Abu Sofia member falls

GENERAL SANTOS CITY — It was not a "wonderful day" for Commander Wonderful yesterday.

This top henchman of slain kidnap gang leader Tungko Abdulrahman Binago was arrested in his hideout along Sinsuat Avenue in Cotabato City, according to Senior Superintendent Bartolome Baluyot, Central Mindanao police director.

The arrest of Amil Gogo, or Commander Wonderful, resulted from information given by the wife of Binago alias Commander Tropical, leader of the Abu Sofia kidnapping gang.

Binago was slain in an alleged shootout with elements of the regional special operations group in Isulan, Sultan Kudarat last July 25.

Baluyot is confident that more Abu Sofia members will fall in the coming days. The gang was behind the abduction last Feb. 6 of hotelier Carlos Belonio and his South Korean partner Jae Kwon Yoon.

Meanwhile, Baluyot bewailed the arrest order issued by a Isulan Municipal Trial Court judge for Superintendent Willie Dangane, Sarangani police director, and three other police officers — as well as the mayor of Malapatan, Sarangani — for the death of Commander Tropical.

Last July 31, Isulan MTC Judge Osmundo Villanueva ordered the arrest of Mayor Alfonso Singcoy, Dangane, Superintendent Efren Alcuizar, regional anti-narcotics officer; Senior Inspector Aucelto Cabang, chief of the Sarangani provincial mobile group, and Chief Inspector Jose Martin.

Superintendent Abubakar Mangelen, Sultan Kudarat police director, recommended the filing or murder charges against Singcoy, Alcuizar, Martin and Cabang.

Mangelen said witnesses have testified that the four were present when Binago were killed under suspicious circumstances last July 25.

Investigation showed that Binago was taken to Isulan from Malapatan aboard an unmarked police car before he was found dead.

Sources said Singcoy was with the policemen who picked up Binago to find out if the suspect was out to kidnap another businessman in Malapatan.

When Singcoy and his group arrived at the Isulan public market, they learned that Binago was killed in a shootout with policemen along Irrigation Road.

Dangane said Binago was supposed to be presented to President Arroyo when she attended the 33rd anniversary of nearby Malungon town in Sarangani last July 26.

"But the suspect resisted and fired at the approaching lawmen when we conducted an operation to arrest him," he said.