Columbia City Prosecutor Noel Ocampo found "no probable cause" to charge Narinder Singh and his companions Rajeth Kumar and Jasbir Singh with illegal possession of explosives, according to their lawyer Ryan Muro.
Narinder, owner of the Toyota Avanza, had yesterday taken the vehicle for engine oil replacement to the Toyota service center in Alaminos, Laguna on Wednesday morning.
A service mechanic called the police when he discovered the bomb, described as military-grade C-4 explosive rigged to a mobile phone as a trigger device, strapped under the car's engine.
The mechanic, acting on the directions of the police, called the car owner back to the shop on the pretext that a car part needed to be replaced.
More From This Section
"The mechanic told my client that cops would pick him up instead at the NBI office. My client actually found it more convenient that they didn't have to take public transportation back to Alaminos," Muro said.
"A policeman later told me this scared them a little, thinking the phone call would trigger an explosion. But my client was on the phone for several minutes already and nothing happened," he was quoted as saying by Inquirer.Net.