09 September 2005
Police strongly suspect 4 dead men were part of cattle rustling gang
UMINGAN – The police here reiterated its previous suspicion that the four men found dead and massacred in the hilly barangay of Casilan here Friday night could be connected with a cattle rustling group operating in adjacent Nueva Ecija.
Chief Inspector Eddie Granil, chief of police of Umingan, said the three victims from Umingan and one from Nueva Ecija were riddled with Armalite rifle and 12-gauge shot gun bullets when they were found sprawled near a dirt road.
At least 30 empty shells of Armalite rifle and one spent shell for 12-gauge shotgun were found by investigators near the bodies of victims Edwin Sobrepeñ, 18; brothers Masong and Ronald Camacho, all of Umingan; and Raymundo Miranda, 32, of barangay del Pilar in Rizal, Nueva Ecija.
Granil admitted there is a strong suspicion the victims were massacred by their own companions as a result of “double-cross” although he said nothing’s definite yet on the possible reason for the massacre. Granil revealed there has been no latest incident of cattle rustling in Umingan.
He theorized that the massacre was done in Umingan because the killers may have found the four men in this remote, boundary town.
It will be recalled that five other men, four of whom were found dead inside an L-300 van in barangay Montano, this town near the Nueva Ecija border suffered a similar bloody end in November last year.
In the previous incident, the involvement of vigilantes was suspected although this was never found out in the investigation.
Chief Inspector Eddie Granil, chief of police of Umingan, said the three victims from Umingan and one from Nueva Ecija were riddled with Armalite rifle and 12-gauge shot gun bullets when they were found sprawled near a dirt road.
At least 30 empty shells of Armalite rifle and one spent shell for 12-gauge shotgun were found by investigators near the bodies of victims Edwin Sobrepeñ, 18; brothers Masong and Ronald Camacho, all of Umingan; and Raymundo Miranda, 32, of barangay del Pilar in Rizal, Nueva Ecija.
Granil admitted there is a strong suspicion the victims were massacred by their own companions as a result of “double-cross” although he said nothing’s definite yet on the possible reason for the massacre. Granil revealed there has been no latest incident of cattle rustling in Umingan.
He theorized that the massacre was done in Umingan because the killers may have found the four men in this remote, boundary town.
It will be recalled that five other men, four of whom were found dead inside an L-300 van in barangay Montano, this town near the Nueva Ecija border suffered a similar bloody end in November last year.
In the previous incident, the involvement of vigilantes was suspected although this was never found out in the investigation.
