Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — A former police officer linked to last September’s deadly bombing in Davao City has been arrested, the military said.
Ex-police officer Jessy Vincent Guinto, alias Abu Aisha, was in a six-vehicle convoy that was flagged at a checkpoint in the town of Barira in Maguindanao late Thursday, a statement from the Philippine Army headquarters said.
The convoy was held at the checkpoint because the vehicles lacked license plate numbers, the statement said.
The checkpoint was jointly manned by local police, officers of the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, and military troops, it added.
Guinto, a former police officer assigned to a station in Antipolo, is said to be the ninth suspect arrested by authorities so far in connection with the bombing in Davao’s night market which killed 15 people and injured dozens on September 2.
Watch: The deadly Davao City blast in 90 seconds
Four other individuals were also arrested at the checkpoint, those it was unclear from the statement if they were connected to the Davao bombing, the military said.
The “other passengers of the vehicles left the area and abandoned the cars,” it added. The six vehicles have been confiscated and transferred to the Highway Patrol Group in Parang, Maguindanao.
Authorities recovered from the vehicles four grenades and materials to make improvised explosive devices with.
Last October, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana linked the bombing to the Maute Group – religious extremists operating in Mindanao.
Look: Sketch of Davao City bombing suspect
Lorenzana said the bombing was intended to disrupt the government’s massive military operations in Sulu and in Central Mindanao, and as retaliation for the heavy casualties the Maute group suffered in Butig, Lanao del sur.
CNN Philippines Correspondent Joyce Ilas contributed to this report.
