PAGADIANCITY (Mindanao Examiner / July 26, 2014) – A former army soldier accused as behind several killings in Zamboanga del Sur province had been arrested by police forces during an operation in the town of Roseller Lim, officials said Saturday.
Officials said Edison Acosta was a former member of the 55th Infantry Battalion and also included in the region’s list of illegal drug watch. Acosta, who was implicated in at least three murders, had been arrested in the village of Perfecto by joint police forces from Roseller Lim and Bayog town.
“There is no bail for Acosta who is facing several murder charges,” said Inspector Dahlan Samuddin, a regional police spokesman.
He said Acosta was tagged as behind the alleged killings of Depore village chieftain Francisco Arado, 59, and his secretary Edita Navarro, 51, in an attack in April 2012 in the mining town of Bayog. The attack also wounded Ernesto Mancao, 62, a former small scale miner.
Samuddin said Acosta was also the prime suspect in the murder of a politician Damerl Ulao in the town of Roseller Lim in June 2013. Ulao was travelling in a motorcycle when ambushed by a gunman.
It was not immediately known if police were able to establish the motives and the brains behind the three killings, but Acosta is still being investigated. (Mindanao Examiner)
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