Sunday, April 27, 2014

Fire victim tested negative for gunpowder – PNP crime lab

BY BOY RYAN B. ZABAL


 (Update) Superintendent Georby Manuel, chief of Provincial Scene of Crime Operations (SOCO), said the assistant bank manager of Rural Bank of Ibajay in Poblacion, Ibajay, Aklan found dead in a fire incident was tested negative for powder burns.

Chief inspector Joe Martin Fuentes, Philippine National Police (PNP) Crime Laboratory medico-legal officer, conducted the post-mortem and autopsy examinations on Gabriel Manikan on Saturday. 

Manuel said autopsy report initially showed Manikan was negative for gun powder residue, indicating that the victim did not fire a gun prior to his death. 

“The victim sustained a gunshot wound to the chest. The paraffin test (of the victim) turned out negative in the presence of gun powder nitrate residue,” Manuel said. 

Manikan found dead inside the burning building on Friday morning had been fatally shot before the fire was set in. 

The victim was brought to Ibajay District Hospital  but was declared dead on arrival.

Probers claimed that Manikan was a victim of foul play not a fire that broke out at around 6 a.m. last Friday. The adjacent owned by a cable company was also partially damaged. for treatment, according to responding fire fighters from Bureau of Fire Protection-Ibajay.

The bank is located just a few meters away from the national highway and gasoline stations in the area. 

During further examination, police responding to the blaze also found 26 evidences. 

Senior Police Officer III Cezar Igtanloc, deputy chief of police of Ibajay, said footages stored in CCTV hard drive will be retrieved to check the authenticity of the footages. 

In an interview, Igtanloc said P1,186,289.90 cash was turned over by the local police to the bank general manager, but some P160,000 cash was still missing.

Senior Superintendent Samuel Nacion, officer-in-charge of Aklan Police Provincial Office, said “there were no signs of forcible entry into the bank.”

 “We have leads in the crime from the time sa paghalin ni Manikan sa ila balay kag sa mga gin-agyan niya mga lugar para matukoy kung diin siya banda gin sundan sang mga suspects,” he added. 

Nacion said the police authorities are exerting maximum efforts to solve the crime in coordination with other law enforcement agencies.

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