Another Maguindanao massacre suspect nabbed

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines – Policemen on Friday arrested in Datu Saudi town another suspect in the gruesome Nov. 23, 2009 'Maguindanao Massacre' that left 58 dead, 32 of them journalists.

The suspect, Alimudin Sanguyod, also known as Norodin Garaputan, did not resist arrest when agents of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (CIDG-ARMM) cornered him at a busy intersection in Barangay Salbo in Datu Saudi.

CIDG operatives showed Sanguyod a copy of the warrant for his arrest, issued by Judge Jocelyn Solis of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court, in the presence of barangay officials before they cuffed and brought him to their office in Cotabato City for detention.

Sanguyod had worked as member of the private militia of the feared Ampatuan clan, whose leaders are now jailed in connection with the massacre, the country’s worst ever election-related violence, which stunned the nation and the whole world. 

Sanguyod, who carried a P250,000 reward on his head, refused to talk to reporters while at the CIDG-ARMM office.

More than a hundred massacre suspects, including their alleged masterminds, are now detained at a police facility in Taguig, being litigated for their involvement in the massacre.