Gaisano Mall in Pagadian City and the abandoned car of Emma Avellana Tacason, a resident of Polanco town in Zamboanga del Norte province. (Mindanao Examiner Photo)
PAGADIAN CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Aug. 8, 2013) – A car abandoned for days at a shopping mall has triggered a bomb scare Thursday in Pagadian City in southern Philippines, police said.
Police said the scare came at a time that security forces are in heightened alert in due to the series of bomb attacks that had already killed and wounded dozens of innocent civilians and soldiers.
Chief Inspector Ariel Huesca, a regional police spokesman, said security guards at the Gaisano Mall noticed the car for the past two days and alerted the local police.
He said police and military deployed bomb experts cordoned off the parking area and inspected the car, but found no explosives inside the vehicle – a KIA Grand Sportage bearing license plate YDZ-822.
“EOD team conducted a perimeter inspection on the vehicle and a water disruptor explosion done to determine whether there is a presence of improvised explosive device, however, upon verification neither bomb nor explosive found on the vehicle,” Huesca told the regional newspaper Mindanao Examiner.
He said initial investigation showed the car is registered with the Land Transportation Office under the name of Emma Avellana Tacason, a resident of Polanco town in Zamboanga del Norte province.
He said also found inside the car were receipts from purchases made from Mega Home Finishing Supply, Jelyco Enterprises and an electric bill from the Zamboanga del Norte Electric Cooperative in Dipolog City.
Huesca said a 31-year old woman, Jeryl Smith, of Dipolog City, has showed up to the police headquarters in Pagadian City to say that she is the owner of the car. Smith claimed to have bought the car to Tacason and that she had just left the car at the mall’s parking. The car‘s wind shield and windows had been shattered by the police using water jet to access its interior.
Huesca said police have tightened security in Pagadian following the spate of bombings in the region. (Mindanao Examiner)
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