Manhunt for Maute Group terrorists

From the Business Mirror (Mar 25): Manhunt for Maute Group terrorists

THE Philippine National Police (PNP) is hunting down members of the Maute Group, three of whom have been identified, following the earlier arrest of their colleague during an operation by a combined police and military team in Quezon City.

The three—Isnadie Ibrahim, a certain Najib and Yusof Macoto—were reported members of the group’s terror cell based in Metro Manila, although the Armed Forces is still yet to categorically admit the existence of the Islamic State (IS)-allied group in Metro Manila.

Police Director General Ronald M. dela Rosa said members of the Lanao del Sur-based Maute Group are currently the subjects of continuing operations by the police, although he did not discount the possibility that they could have already slipped back to Mindanao.

Jihad ‘teacher’
Ibrahim, a subleader of the Maute Group, supposedly planned the foiled bombing on the US Embassy in Manila, while Macoto was the mastermind of the attempted attack. Macoto is an imam at the Tejeros Mosque in Tanza, Cavite.

According to a report prepared by the Quezon City Police District, under Chief Supt. Guillermo Lorenzo T. Eleazar, Macoto has been facilitating the teachings of jihad at the mosque.

The presence of the terrorist group in Metro Manila, or at least the existence of a plot to attack, was first confirmed by dela Rosa immediately after the foiled embassy bombing on November 28 last year, which subsequently led to the arrest of four suspects who are members of the Ansar al Khilafa Philippines (AKP).

The AKP and the Maute are two groups allied with the IS. Lately, however, all local terrorist groups in Mindanao have already joined together under the banner of ASG Basilan Commander Isnilon Hapilon as the ISIS-recognized leader in Mindanao.

The existence of a terror cell in Metro Manila was further confirmed by the arrest on Monday of Nasip Ibrahim, 35, a native of Marawi City, Lanao del Sur, and resident of 31-A Libyan Street, Salaam compound, Barangay Culiat, Quezon City.

Eleazar said a joint police and military team took in Ibrahim after his house yielded three firearms and a homemade bomb fashioned out of a 60mm mortar shell with a detonating device.

Plot to bomb US Embassy

The Quezon City police director said the operating team was actually attempting to serve a warrant of arrest against Jamil Baja Tawil for illegal possession of firearms.

“Tawil is a suspected ally of the Maute terrorist group believed being coddled by Nasip Ibrahim y Sarip and sheltered in his residence,” the report prepared by the Quezon City Police said.

The arrest of Ibrahim, who was presented to dela Rosa by National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) Chief Director Oscar Albayalde and Eleazar, completed the picture on the failed US Embassy bombing.

Ibrahim, Eleazar’s report said, was the driver of the blue Toyota Revo with plate number XKT-424 that was used in the attempted bombing. It was reportedly driven all the way to Manila from Mindanao.

The report added that a few days before the foiled bombing, Ibrahim met with Najib, Rashid Kilala and his uncle, Isnadie Ibrahim, alias Bro Akh a.k.a. Inspire near SM department store in Marilao, Bulacan.
Ibrahim also facilitated the accommodation of the three at the Park Villa on Quezon Avenue, where they stayed for two nights.

After the failed bombing, the PNP arrested Kilala and three others, identified as Jiaher Guinar, Mohammad Jumao-as and Elmer Romero.

Dela Rosa said the arrest of Ibrahim prevented any other possible attack by the terrorist group in Metro Manila.

ISIS-inspired
“The PNP has foiled another sinister attempt by the ISIS-inspired Maute group to launch terrorist activities. I am glad that alert operatives of the NCRPO discovered and intercepted in time an improvised explosive device being prepared by the suspects even before it can be delivered to its possible target or used elsewhere,” the PNP chief said.

“We are yet to uncover the circumstances surrounding this incident involving the Lanao-based Maute Group, but this discovery leads us to believe that the Maute Group has already established presence in Metro Manila, as to what extent, that is the subject of our follow-up investigation and operations,” he added.

In disclosing the presence of the Maute in the nation’s capital, dela Rosa said he does not want to create an alarm, but wanted Metro residents to be vigilant.

“I do not want to sound alarmist or cause panic, but prudence, it has been said, is the better part of valor. I, therefore, urge our people to remain calm, yet alert and vigilant of the presence of threat groups in our midst,” the PNP chief said.

The military is working with the PNP to validate the reported presence of a terror cell in Metro Manila, saying it does not still have the data on the report, while belying it was contradicting the police stand.

“There is no contradiction with the PNP headquarters on that account because, at that time of the media event of the PNP headquarters, the Armed Forces did not possess the information and the data that were necessary to make a more extensive statement…so, we could not link anything, or conclude anything until we have the information,” military spokesman Brig. Gen. Restituto C. Padilla Jr. said.

Padilla added that whether there is a threat, what is important is the readiness of security forces, including the police, to deal with it.

http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/manhunt-for-maute-group-terrorists/