COTABATO CITY – Police authorities in Region 12 have increased covert operations against possible colleagues of an arrested Indonesian national suspected of having links to terrorists in southern Philippines.
Chief Supt. Marcelo Morales, Police Regional Office -12 director, said that law enforcers have continued to search for colleagues of Indonesian Mushala Rashim alias “Abu Omar” who could be hiding in the region’s remote villages.
Abu Omar was suspected to have links with Ansar al-Khilafa Philippines (AKP), a local terrorist organization allied with the ISIS-linked Abu Sayyaf and Maute terror groups.
Senior Supt. Raul Supiter, Sultan Kudarat police director, said Abu Omar was arrested by joint police and military authorities in Palimbang, Sultan Kudarat on March 10.
He said the police received a tip from concerned citizens about his suspicious presence along a coastal village of Palimbang and was telling the locals he was looking for a certain “Commander Tokboy.”
“Commander Tokboy” was Ansar al-Khilafah commander Mohammad Jaafar Maguid alias "Tokboy", who was killed during police operation in Maasim, Sarangani, on January 4 last year.
Morales said Abu Omar could not produce travel documents when police accosted him after admitting to authorities he was an Indonesian.
Morales said Abu Omar was turned over to the Bureau of Immigration in Mindanao for violating of immigration laws.
A police intelligence officer, who requested anonymity, said the Indonesian consulate in Davao provided intelligence information about Omar.
“He has a bomb in his body and tried to set it off when accosted by the police, but he failed,” he said.
According to Morales, Omar has been convicted in Indonesia for terrorism charges but was able to escape and traveled to Mindanao. Recovered from him was an ATM card and some 250,000 rupiah bills. (PNA)
