(Eagle News) — An alleged member of the Maute clan–believed to be a bomb-maker—was arrested by authorities in Cagayan de Oro on Friday.
A report said Mohammad Noaim Maute was apprehended by members of the Martial Law Special Action Group in Sta. Cruz, Macasandig, at 7 a.m.
Maute is in the first arrest order issued by Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, also the martial law administrator, after martial law was hoisted over Mindanao.
President Rodrigo Duterte declared martial law there after members of the terrorist group Maute overran parts of the city allegedly in a bid to carve out a province for the international terrorist group Islamic State.
In a radio interview, Senior Supt. Robert Roy Bahian, Cagayan de Oro provincial director, said Maute, who also goes by the aliases Abu Jadid and Almahid Pangompig Romato, was posing as a Mindanao State University teacher to elude authorities.
A fake MSU identification card with the name Alfaiz P. Mamintal was found on him when arrested.
The patriarch and matriarch of the Maute group, Cayamora and Farhana, have already been arrested and are detained in Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig.
The military said it was verifying reports Maute clan members Omar and Maddy had been killed in government operations. Gerald Rañez, Eagle News Service