PNP-PIO PR
Missing person report pursued diligently by police solved the grizzly murder of a 20-year old student in Maguindanao.
“This is another fine example of proper case management and investigation leading to the early solution of the crime,” PNP Chief, Police General Debold M Sinas said.
Citing reports from Police Brigadier General Samuel Rodriguez, PNP Regional Director for Bangsamoro Autonomus Region (BAR), the Chief PNP said two witnesses to the crime led police investigators of Upi Municipal Police Station to a shallow grave in Barangay Kibucay, Upi where the remains of Mondjahid Tauf, 20, was exhumed by SOCO forensic examiners on December 21.
Upon the discovery of the body and further testimonies of witnesses, police arrested RAFZANJANI BAYONA TATAK aka Datu Raprap Tatak, 22, in Cotabato City on December 22 from whom arresting officers confiscated a handgun believed used in the crime.
Another suspect, a certain Datu Nash, remains at-large and is now the subject of follow-up operations by tracker teams of CIDG and PRO-BAR.
Probers are eyeing old personal grudge as motive behind the murder.
Tauf was reported missing on December 20 by his mother Amera Abubakar who told investigators that her son was fetched by the suspect from their residence in Barangay Salimbao, Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao at 2:00PM on December 18 and has failed to return since.
Acting on information provided by some confidential informants in the community, a follow-up team scoured a farm in Barangay Kibucay, Upi and found a tshirt, shortpants and underwear which relatives of the victim identified as belonging to Tauf.
Two caretakers of the farm led investigators to a freshly-dug shallow grave where the victims was allegedly killed and buried.