MANILA, Philippines - Police have arrested a key suspect in the 2008 kidnap-murder of a retired pilot and his driver in Cavite.
The suspect, Mariano de Leon, alias Spider, 49, who carried a bounty of P300,000, was nabbed by operatives of the National Capital Region Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit (NCR-CIDU) in Southern Leyte last Sunday afternoon.
Senior Superintendent Pedro Cabatingan, NCR-CIDU regional officer, said De Leon was arrested by a follow-up team of investigators in Bato, Southern Leyte after weeklong surveillance following leads provided by an informant.
Cabatingan said De Leon had an arrest warrant from Judge Pedro Gutierrez of the Pasay City Regional Trial Court Branch 119 for his alleged involvement in the kidnap-slay of retired pilot Demosthenes Cañete, 67, and his driver, Allan Garay, 26.
Aside from the P300,000 reward from the Department of the Interior and Local Government, anti-crime advocates in Cavite and Cañete’s friends also raised P500,000 for De Leon’s arrest.
Armed men kidnapped Cañete and Garay on June 27, 2008. Canete’s body was recovered at the megadike area in Porac, Pampanga a few days later.
With De Leon’s arrest, police said an eighth suspect, PO1 Reniel Abogado, alias Dondon, remains at large.
Six other suspects are now detained without bail. They are former Dasmariñas, Cavite vice mayor Victor Carungcong, spouses Chief Inspectors Exequiel Cautiver and Penelope Cautiver, PO1 Rick Selga, Alejandrito Entolizo Jr., and Gary Pateo.
In one of their follow-up operations, Cavite policemen confiscated dozens of shotguns and revolvers, a sound suppressor, gun accessories, and hundreds of ammunition in one of De Leon’s houses in Imus, Cavite.
Records show that De Leon also had another arrest warrant for frustrated murder in Camarines Norte.