Security chief at a loss
NZPA-Reuter Manila A senior Philippines security commander says he does not know how the alleged killer of the opposition leader, Benigno Aquino, penetrated tight precautions set up to protect him when he arrived at Manila Airport on August 21. Brigadier-General Luther Custodio, commander of Aviation Security Command, said that four teams of about 40 heavily armed soldiers were guarding the aircraft which took Mr Aquino back to the Philippines and all precautions had been taken to ensure his safety.
Mr Aquino was shot at almost point-blank range in the back of the head. The police have said that the lone gunman, dressed in a maintenance crew uniform, was killed by security guards after firing the one shot from a .357 Magnum revolver.
General Custodio said that all authorised personnel, including aircraft maintenance and service crews on the tarmac, had been searched by Intelligence agents and armed guards covering the whole area. “I cannot say how the gunman was able to pene-
trate the tight security,” he told a special commission inquiring into the murder, which sparked widespread anti-Government unrest and violent street demonstrations. General Custodio, an Air Force pilot trained in Intelligence work, said that he had had orders to arrest Mr Aquino and take the former senator to a military camp where he would be detained. He said that five uniformed but unarmed soldiers had boarded the China Airlines plane to arrest Mr Aquino and escort him to a waiting Air Force vehicle.
“But there were other military men in civilian clothes, working for the Customs and Immigration Office who boarded the airplane and I did not know them,” he said. He said that a man in civilian clothes photographed on the tarmac darting away with Mr Aquino’s hand luggage moments after the shooting was a soldier engaged in the security arrangements. The photograph was among evidence presented to the inquiry, which has summoned all officers engaged in the security preparations to give evidence.
Security chief at a loss
Press, 23 November 1983, Page 10
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