The Bureau of Immigration (BI) is set to deport a Pakistani suspected of being a suicide bomber and a member of the Dawlah Islamiya terrorist group.
Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente said Waqar Ahmad, 36, was arrested by joint operatives from the BI's Mindanao Intelligence Task Group (MITG) and Philippine National Police (PNP) on Tuesday.
“He (Ahmad) will be deported as his presence here is inimical to national security,” the BI chief said in a statement Wednesday.
“He also violated our immigration laws by working here without applying for an employment visa,” he added.
The foreigner, who works as a storekeeper and collector in Zamboanga City, is now under the custody of the police.
Morente said Ahmad will undergo deportation proceedings for being an undesirable alien due to his alleged terrorist links and for working in the country without a permit.
He was arrested after several days of intensive surveillance conducted by members of the PNP Regional Intelligence Unit 9 at the appliance store of his Pakistani uncle in the said City.
BI records reveal that Ahmad arrived in the country last April 19.
Morente added that the Pakistani “cannot set foot in the Philippines again” after he is deported as he will be placed in the BI’s blacklist and banned from re-entering the country.
“He did not even have the proper permit or visa to engage in work in the Philippines. We highly doubt his story,” the BI Commissioner added.
He also cited international intelligence reports indicating Ahmad’s alleged links to the radical Islamist group Dawlah Islamiya, which allegedly has ties to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and the Maute group, both of which has been blamed for several bombing attacks in the South.
The same reports alleged that he was set to meet with a ranking leader of the Abu Sayyaf group in Basilan in order to plan and carry out suicide bombings in the province.
Authorities suspected that Dawlah Islamiya was behind the bomb explosion that wounded 18 people at a restaurant in Isulan, Sultan Kudarat last April 4.
https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1072745
The foreigner, who works as a storekeeper and collector in Zamboanga City, is now under the custody of the police.
Morente said Ahmad will undergo deportation proceedings for being an undesirable alien due to his alleged terrorist links and for working in the country without a permit.
He was arrested after several days of intensive surveillance conducted by members of the PNP Regional Intelligence Unit 9 at the appliance store of his Pakistani uncle in the said City.
BI records reveal that Ahmad arrived in the country last April 19.
Morente added that the Pakistani “cannot set foot in the Philippines again” after he is deported as he will be placed in the BI’s blacklist and banned from re-entering the country.
“He did not even have the proper permit or visa to engage in work in the Philippines. We highly doubt his story,” the BI Commissioner added.
He also cited international intelligence reports indicating Ahmad’s alleged links to the radical Islamist group Dawlah Islamiya, which allegedly has ties to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and the Maute group, both of which has been blamed for several bombing attacks in the South.
The same reports alleged that he was set to meet with a ranking leader of the Abu Sayyaf group in Basilan in order to plan and carry out suicide bombings in the province.
Authorities suspected that Dawlah Islamiya was behind the bomb explosion that wounded 18 people at a restaurant in Isulan, Sultan Kudarat last April 4.
https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1072745
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