by emad » Tue Aug 09, 2005 12:01 pm
Cops hunt gang tagged in cannibalism <br><br>GENERAL SANTOS CITY -- Fear grips residents of remote villages in the boundary of Jose Abad Santos town in Davao del Sur province and Glan town in Sarangani province after the leader of a cult allegedly involved in cannibalism managed to elude arrest.<br><br>Police have not yet established the name of the cultist group that became known and feared for eating the liver of their victims and drinking their blood.<br><br>Chief Inspector Reynaldo Mascardo, police chief of Jose Abad Santos, told reporters that his men were able to arrest three members of the group.<br><br>The suspects -- brothers Angelito and Sabino Latang, and a certain Lito Vicente -- are now detained at the Digos City jail awaiting trial for murder and illegal possession of firearms charges.<br><br>They were identified by a certain Kresing Limbudan, a member of the Manobo tribe in Barangay Nuwing, as the ones who stabbed and killed her husband on June 27.<br><br>Abandoned farms<br>Mascardo said he created a team to hunt down the suspects after several residents in Barangay Nuwing and Kitumbod in Jose Abad Santos abandoned their farms for fear of the cult.<br><br>Mascardo claimed that the residents found that the group was not only involved in landgrabbing but also in cattle rustling.<br><br>"To instill fear among residents, the cannibals kill their victims in full public view. They show to the public their eating of the liver and drinking of the blood," Mascardo said.<br><br>Life after jail<br><br>The police official identified the leader of the group as a certain Dodong Latang, who escaped from jail in Malita town, Davao del Sur.<br><br>Mascardo said Latang went to Nuwing and formed a cult.<br><br>Angelito and Sabino Latang were arrested while harvesting coconuts in a plantation owned by one of their victims.<br><br>Police recovered from them unlicensed firearms, amulets and a sharp bolo allegedly used in killing their victims.<br><br>Other victims of the group were identified as Benjamin Untoy, Cording Amadora and Celso Labiton.<br><br>Aquiles Z. Zonio, PDI Mindanao Bureau<br><br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://news.inq7.net/regions/index.php?index=1&story_id=46179">news.inq7.net/regions/ind...y_id=46179</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br> <p></p><i></i>