ASG member falls in Pasay
AUTHORITIES arrested an alleged member of Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) involved in a series of kidnap-for-ransom since 2012 when he arrived from Malaysia at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3 Thursday evening in Pasay City.
Southern Police District (SPD) Director P/BGen. Jimili Macaraeg said the suspect, who uses several aliases as “Abu Asrie”; “Mheiradz”; “Muadz”; and “Muhadz”, a resident of Bubuan Island, Basilan province, was arrested by virtue of a warrant of arrest issued by Judge Peter V. Eisma of Zamboanga City, Regional Trial Court (RTC), Branch 15, for the crime of kidnapping for ransom with no bail recommended.
Macaraeg said the arrest of “Abu Asrie” was the result of the combined effort by operatives of the Station Intelligence Section, Warrant and Subpoena Section of Pasay City Police, along with the SPD District Mobile Force Battalion (DMFB), PNP Intelligence Group, Aviation Group, National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) and Anti-Terrorism Group of Bureau of Immigration.
The suspect, according to the report, was a member of ASG based in Basilan under the leadership of slain Furuji Indama, who was involved in more or less four encounters with the military, although he denied he had killed any soldiers since they fired their guns in one direction without seeing their targets.
He left the country in 2015 and went to Malaysia to evade arrest and prosecution for the crimes he committed and was able to secure a fake ID (identification) card or permanent residence card in Sabah using several aliases.
On August 29, 2017, he was arrested by the Malaysian Police, together with seven Filipino neighbors, for terrorism-related offenses with no right to counsel.
He also claimed that the Malaysian Police accused him of planning to stage a terror attack during the Sea (Southeast Asian) Games and Merdeka Celebration in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He was due for release on August 30, 2021, but the Tapah Prison in Malaysia was under an enhanced “movement control order”.
He is now temporarily in the custody of the District Special Operation Unit for proper disposition, pending the issuance of the commitment order from the court of origin.
Macaraeg lauded the operating units for the successful arrest of a long-time fugitive and a member of an ASG. “We continue to work with our counterparts to close the net around fugitives no matter where they are. This is an example of law enforcement working closely together to ensure justice will prevail and demonstrating there is nowhere safe to hide,” he said.
