Maguindanao massacre suspect nabbed in hospital

A suspect in last year's widely-condemned massacre of more than 50 people in Maguindanao province has been arrested over the weekend while recuperating in a hospital in Shariff Aguak town, police said Sunday. Edris Kasan, a former government militiaman who has a P250,000 bounty for his arrest, was rushed to a hospital after being wounded in an ambush in Barangay Labo-Labo in Datu Hoffer town last Friday. “He was placed under police custody early Sunday because he is on the list of wanted persons in connection with the Maguindanao massacre," said Senior Superintendent Agrimero Cruz Jr., spokesman of the Philippine National Police (PNP). “He is facing 56 counts of murder," he added. Cruz said Kasan and a companion identified as Yamani Baga Utto were shot by five armed men. Kasan is included in the Department of the Interior and Local Government’s list of more than 100 Maguindanao massacre suspects who have a reward for their capture. Local police and members of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) had earlier went to Kasan’s house but failed to arrest him, Cruz said. Follow-up investigation and tips from informants led them to the hospital where the suspect was confined. “He used a different name when he was admitted to the hospital but our CIDG operatives were then carrying the pictures of the massacre suspects so he was identified as one of the accused," said Cruz. Kasan’s companion, who was also admitted in the same hospital, was not involved in the massacre case, Cruz added. Fifty-seven people—32 of them journalists—were killed on November 23, 2009 in what is now considered as one of the worst cases of political violence in the country. Close to 200 suspects, including members of the influential Ampatuan clan in Mindanao, are facing multiple murder charges for the carnage. - KBK, GMANews.TV