Lanao Sur police hunts elusive murder suspect
Mindanao Armed Conflict • 09:00 AM Mon Apr 20, 2020
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By:
John M. Unson
COTABATO CITY --- The Lanao del Sur police has mobilized its forces to locate a wanted murderer whose companions wounded three policemen in a bungled attempt to peacefully arrest him Sunday in Kapatagan, Lanao del Sur.
"We are now trying to locate the suspect, Meranda Bagnas, who ran away during the encounter," Lanao del Sur's police director, Col. Madzgani Mukaram, said Monday.
Mukaram said Monday the wounded policemen, Captain Karl Vincent Centinaje, Corporal Morsed Maliga and Patrolman Abdul Khamied Unda, are now confined in a hospital.
They were to arrest, along with personnel of the 5th Marine Battalion, the 45-year-old Bagnas in Barangay Daguan in Kapatagan town in Lanao del Sur but the operation turned awry when gunmen attacked them from different directions, sparking a gunfight.
The warrant for the arrest of Bagnas, without bail recommended, was issued by the Regional Trial Court Branch 12 in nearby Malabang town also in Lanao del Sur province.
Bagnas reportedly managed to escape while his companions, armed with assault rifles, traded shots with the joint police-military team dispatched to serve the warrant for his arrest.
His heavily-armed coddlers also scampered away before police and Marine reinforcements could reach the scene.
"Our efforts to locate the suspect who is at large is being assisted by local officials," Mukaram said.