Police arrested one of the suspected gunmen in the daylight killing of lawyer Mia Manuelita Mascariñas-Green during a raid at a residence in Barangay Tinago, Dauis conducted by joint operatives of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) and Dauis Police Station on Saturday.
Armed with a search warrant for violation of illegal possession of firearm issued by Regional Trial Court Executive Judge Suceso ,Arcamo Jr., the joint police team arrested one Vladimir Ahmedson Cagata, 40, whom police later identified as one of the suspected gunmen who killed Mascariñas on February 15, 2017.
During the search at the house of Cagata, the raiding team recovered an unlicensed .45 caliber firearm with two live ammunition in its magazine.
WATCH: Digital sketch of lawyer’s ambush in Tagbilaran
PSInsp. Frits Blanco, CIDG- Bohol chief, bared that they have submitted to the Bohol Crime Laboratory the seized firearm for ballistic and forensic examination to check whether the gun would match the slugs recovered at the scene where Mascariñas-Green was gunned by four motorcycle-riding men while the lawyer was onboard her vehicle on her way home at 4:27 p.m. on February 15.
Police investigators reveal Cagata’s connections with Lloyd Lancer Gonzaga, the alleged mastermind in the killing of Atty. Mascariñas-Green.
Based on police investigation, Cagata used to be a security guard at the resort which is the subject of the property dispute between Gonzaga and his mother-in-law who was a client of the slain lawyer. Mascarinas-Green’s client and the resort owner had dragged their property dispute to court which caught the lawyer in between the parties’ conflict.
During Cagata’s stint as security at the resort, he reportedly befriended Gonzaga who is now in police custody after having been arrested by CIDG operatives in Davao City last July 1, 2017
It may be recalled that Mascariñas-Green was shot dead by motorcycle-boarding gunmen while she was driving her Toyota Innova (ABM 9572) with her three children and one helper on the way home. The incident took place on Zamora Street, Dao, Barangay San Isidro in Tagbilaran City.
Since the lawyer’s murder, police had been on a manhunt for Gonzaga and three others whom police tagged as Mascariñas-Green’s killers.
Presently, only Gonzaga and Cagata have been arrested while two other suspects remain at large, one of whom is identified as Romarico Benigi-an.
Two days after the shooting, a search warrant was issued against Gonzaga and Benigi-an. However, when the Special Investigation Task Group (SITG) served the warrants in their places at Purok 7, Barangay Tawala, Panglao, the two were not around.
The search warrants were for violations of Republic Act 10591 or Comprehensive Law on Firearms and Ammunition and Republic Act 9165 or Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act.