ARRESTED. A mug shot of bombing suspect Norhasim Esmael following his capture along the highway in Ampatuan, Maguindanao on Sunday (June 21, 2020). The suspect is linked to the Aug. 2018 bomb attack in Isulan, Sultan Kudarat that killed three civilians and injured 18 others. (Photo courtesy of Ampatuan MPS)
COTABATO CITY – Police in Maguindanao turned over on Monday to police officials of Isulan, Sultan Kudarat a man suspected to be behind the August 2018 bombing in the town.
Lt. Colonel Reynato Mauricio, intelligence chief of Maguindanao police office, described the arrest of Norhasim Esmael as "a huge accomplishment" of the provincial police force headed by Colonel Arnold Santiago.
Mauricio said Esmael, 25, a resident of Mamasapano, Maguindanao, is a member of Islamic State-linked Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF).
Acting on a tip, police and military agents nabbed the suspect along the national highway in Barangay Poblacion, Ampatuan, Maguindanao on Sunday morning.
Esmael was turned over Monday morning by the Maguindanao police to the Isulan municipal police.
“He is now detained at police lock-up cell under heavy security to thwart possible ‘rescue efforts’ by his companions,” Mauricio said. Esmael was among the three persons seen to have left a black bag beside a parked motorcycle near a row of second-hand stalls along the national highway in Isulan that went off around 7 p.m. on Aug. 28, 2018.
On Sept. 2 of the same year, a second explosion, also linked to the BIFF, occurred outside an Internet café in Isulan where two died and 12 were injured.
Mauricio said his unit got vital intelligence information from Esmael’s relatives to the series of bombings in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao, and North Cotabato. (With a report from Noel Punzalan/PNA)
