(Eagle News) – The Indonesian fighter earlier arrested in Marawi City for fighting along with the Islamist-State inspired terrorists has been slapped with criminal complaints in connection with his rebellious acts, and for possessing various arms and ammunition.
Police filed the criminal complaints on Thursday, November 2, before the Quezon City Prosecutors’ Office against the Indonesian, identified as Muhammad Ilham Syahputra.
The Philippine National Police (PNP) charged Syahputra with rebellion, and for violation of the Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition Regulatory Act (Republic Act 10591), Law on Explosives (Republic Act 9516) and the International Humanitarian Law (Republic Act 9581).
Authorities said they recovered a .45 caliber gun, a fragmentation grenade and an undisclosed sum in Philippine, Indonesian and Saudi Arabian currency from the arrested militant. A mobile phone, computer tablet and a passport of another Indonesian national were also recovered from him.
Syahputra is now detained in Camp Crame, Quezon City.
Police said they arrested on Wednesday the 22-year-old Indonesian in Marawi after village officials found him as he tried to flee, also adding he would face rebellion and terrorism charges.
“He is part of the siege and an initial (encounter) in Piagapo,” provincial police chief Senior Superintendent John Guyguyon told reporters, referring to a military operation in April against the militants in a town 45 minutes away from Marawi.
Hundreds of local and foreign gunmen who had pledged allegiance to IS rampaged through Marawi, on May 23. They took over parts of the city using civilians as human shields.
An ensuing US-backed military campaign claimed the lives of more than 1,100 people, displaced 400,000 residents and reduced large parts of the city to rubble.
The Indonesian militant arrived in the Philippines last year upon the invitation of the Filipino head of IS in Southeast Asia, Isnilon Hapilon, according to Guyguyon — citing the gunman’s account given to interrogators.
Hapilon, who was on the US government’s list of most wanted terrorists, was killed last month along with fellow militant leader Omarkhayam Maute.
The Indonesian fighter, from Medan, said his group was involved in a 2016 suicide attack that killed eight people in the Indonesian capital Jakarta and was claimed by IS, Guyguyon added.
The militants had plotted to bomb military camps in the Philippines but this did not happen because of the Marawi attack, Guyguyon said.
There are still about 20 remaining fighters holed up in Marawi but they are surrounded by troops, Guyguyon said.
“They are not attacking (our forces) but when you enter, they retaliate.”
(with a report from Agence France Presse)