AGENTS of the Philippine National Police Integrity Monitoring and Enforcement Group (PNP-IMEG) early morning Sunday captured a dismissed police official wanted for a murder case and for allegedly heading a gun-for-hire group which has gained notoriety for targeting politicians and other wealthy persons in Ilocos-Pangasinan region, a report to PNP chief, General Rodolfo S. Azurin Jr. said.

PNP-IMEG Officer-in-Charge, Brigadier Gen. Samuel C. Nacion identified the suspect as ex-Police Lieutenant Colonel Wilson Magpali, the subject of a non-bailable warrant of arrest for murder issued by Judge Nyerson Dexter Tito Tualla of the San Fernando City Regional Trial Court Branch 28 in La Union.

The official said members of the IMEG Luzon Field Unit headed by Col. Jeff E. Fanged tracked down the former police official in his hiding place in Barangay Legaspi in Tayug, Pangasinan and placed him under arrest 4:40 a.m. Sunday.

“We have arrested a wanted dismissed police official in line with our commitment to ensure that we will be doing our sworn duty to go after misfits and scalawags in the police force without fear or favor, regardless of their source of commission, rank and position,” said the PNP-IMEG director.

Nacion said that when arrested, the suspect yielded a PNP-issued 9mm Berreta semi-automatic pistol with three loaded magazines.

An investigation is now underway on why Magpali’s former superiors failed to account for his PNP-issued firearm shortly after his dismissal from the police force.

Magpali is now being held at the PNP-IMEG lock-up facility in Camp Crame pending his presentation to court for issuance of official jail commitment order.

“The accused has been the target of our Luzon Field Unit for reportedly leading the so-called Magpali Gun-for-Hire Group operating in La Union and other parts of Ilocos-Pangasinan region. He actually has been the subject of a Coplan since last year,” the official said.

Nacion said his men have been hot on the trail of the accused since July 2021 after then President Rodrigo Duterte ordered his arrest for leading the Magpali Crime Group said to be being hired by unscrupulous politicians in Region 1 to kill their rivals.

“He (Magpali) has been the target of our Coplan Mailap for his purported involvement in the assassination of high-profile politicians in Ilocos-Pangasinan region,” said the PNP-IMEG director.

Records showed that shortly after the presidential directive, Magpali surrendered to the PNP Intelligence Group to clear his name. Then PNP chief, now retired Gen. Guillermo Lorenzo T. Eleazar said Magpali surfaced after feeling the pressure of a massive manhunt launched by the police to get him and his alleged members.

Accompanied by his private counsel, Magpali voluntarily appeared before the office of the PNP-IG and executed an affidavit attesting that he voluntarily submitted himself to the PNP “to clear my name, seek redress and protection from possible harm against me.”

The former police official also denied being the leader of the “Magpali Gun for Hire Group, ” adding he had no knowledge of the accusation of planned killing of politicians in La Union.

PNP-IG director, Brig. Gen. Neil B. Alinsañgan then said that Magpali left his rented apartment unit in Bgy. Legazpi in Tayug, Pangasinan in 2019 after he was implicated in the killing of one Freddie Ramirez.

Following the 2021 surrender of Magpali, then PNP chief Eleazar instructed the PNP-IG to coordinate closely with the PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in conducting operational research and case-build-up efforts against Magpali and his group.