Pentagon gang leader dead, police confirm

DAVAO CITY, Philippines  – The $1-million reward put up by the United States government for any information leading to the arrest or death of Tahir Alonto has stirred a hornet’s nest as the Pentagon kidnapping gang leader was reported to have died last Saturday, police said yesterday.

“These people who are saying that they really want confirmation on Alonto’s death are the ones who are after the $1-million reward,” said Maguindanao provincial police director Marcelo Pintac.

Pintac said Alonto indeed died last Saturday due to complications from diabetes in the Maguindanao town of Sultan sa Barongis.

“I can confirm myself that Alonto has really died,” Pintac told The STAR.

He said Alonto’s relatives informed him that his body was immediately interred following the Muslim tradition of burial within 24 hours.

Pintac said anybody who has questions about Alonto’s death could ask him.

Alonto was responsible for the rash of kidnappings in central Mindanao and adjoining areas in the 1990s. He was arrested in 1999 but was rescued by his colleagues in a daring raid on the General Santos City jail in 2000.

The US government put up the $1-million bounty for Alonto after his kidnapping gang was labeled as a terrorist group.

The Pentagon gang was founded by Faisal Marohombsar, Ibrahim Sagandal alias Jun Sarat, Datu Udasan, and a Maguindanaon named Datu Teng.

Marohombsar was killed in an encounter with policemen in Cavite, while Sagandal was arrested and detained in North Cotabato.

Udasan and Teng were reported to have been arrested, too, but not much has been heard of them since then.– With John Unson