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“What they recovered were a few kilos of urea and other fertilizers that the Cotabato provincial government gave us last year under its rubber development program. These were not given to produce bombs but for rubber and banana,” said Alluden Hassan, village councilor and son of Ustadz Hassan, owner of the house .
The police on Friday morning confiscated from Hassan’s house at least 20 kilos of suspected ammonium nitrate, which the police said is an ingredient for making bombs.
Website definitions of ammonium nitrate refer to it as a fertilizer but as an oxidizing agent, it can make an “explosive mixture when combined with a hydrocarbon, usually diesel fuel or sometimes kerosene.”
Chief Inspector Leo Ajero, chief of police here, said they started the search on Hassan’s house in Barangay Nuangan after they received information from Musali Calo, a suspected bomber they arrested last Thursday, that at least six improvised explosive devices (IED) were kept in the house. Ajero explained that before they went inside Hassan’s premises, they had copies of a search warrant issued by Judge Francis Palmones of the Regional Trial Court branch 17 here and the extra-judicial confession that Cado executed. “Everything was legal and done in a proper manner. We did not violate any rules or rights,” he said.
Hassan’s son said the police also violated their constitutional right to privacy by setting up a checkpoint a few meters away from Hassan’s house.
Also, Barangay Kagawad Melvin Lambac told media that the military detachment in a thickly populated area violated Articles of War, thus violated human rights. (MindaNews)
