Alleged hired killer nabbed in Cotabato City

KIDAPAWAN CITY, Philippines - Members of the Cotabato City PNP arrested a suspected hired killer in an operation conducted Friday morning in a busy street in Cotabato City. Sr. Supt. Willie Dangane, city police director, identified the suspect as Manan Omar Ampuan, long wanted for string of heinous cases, including the killing in 2006 of a businessman identified as Jabbar Bagundang in Cotabato City. The suspect was also implicated in the killings in Cotabato City of least 27 people, most of them government officials, according to Dangane. Ampuan, also known as “Manny 45," did not resist arrest after he sensed that the operatives, led by Dangane and Inspector Erwin Tabora, have surrounded him while along a busy street here, and offered himself voluntarily for investigation. Police learned of Ampuan’s presence after a tip from an informant. Ampuan’s arrest is backed by several warrants issued by the Regional Trial Court in Cotabato City, two of them issued by Judge Bansawan Ibrahim of the RTC Branch 13 for illegal possession of firearms. - Malu Cadelina Manar, GMANews.TV