ONE OF the principal suspects in the 2009 Maguindanao massacre, also among the 80 who have evaded arrest for a over a decade, was arrested on Monday in Maguindanao, the police reported. Brig. Gen. Marni C. Marcos, Jr., police director of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, said the 42-year old Faisal Dimaukom, also known as Kagi Faizal, was arrested in the town of Datu Saudi Ampatuan following intelligence-driven operations. “I am extending my gratefulness and appreciation especially to the stakeholders for this is a result of good intelligence work and coordination with them,” he said in a message sent via Viber. Mr. Marcos also said a fragmentation grenade was found in Dimaukom’s possession. Mr. Dimaukom, with a P300,000 bounty on his head, has been tagged as one of the principal suspects in the massacre where 58 people, including 32 journalists, were killed in Ampatuan town on Nov. 23, 2009. Last Dec. 19, Quezon City Regional Trial Court Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes handed out the verdict on the case, convicting two members of the powerful Ampatuan political clan along with 26 other principal accused. The court also ordered the arrest of all suspects still at large.— Emmanuel Tupas, PHILSTAR

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