By Edwin Fernandez
COTABATO CITY – Authorities arrested a suspected member of the Dawlah Islamiyah (DI) local terror group in an operation carried out in Maguindanao del Sur on Wednesday afternoon.
In a report Thursday, Brig. Gen. Jaysen de Guzman, director of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region (PRO-BAR), identified the suspect as Abu Usama, who was nabbed in Barangay Kaya-Kaya, Datu Abdullah Sangki town.
“The suspect did not resist arrest during Wednesday’s 5:30 p.m. operation, but denied the charges against him,” de Guzman said in his report.
Usama has four pending arrest warrants issued by local courts that include murder, illegal possession of firearms and explosives, and carnapping.
All his warrants of arrest recommended no bail bond. De Guzman said the suspect was a founding member of Dawlah Islamiyah – Soccsksargen Maguid Group, an ISIS-inspired terrorist faction that used to operate in South Cotabato, Sarangani, and Sultan Kudarat.
In 2019, Usama aligned himself with the DI-Hassan Group in Maguindanao and continued subversive and violent activities.
The suspect is now detained at the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group-Maguindanao field office and will be presented to the issuing courts for legal disposition.
Usama’s arrest came four days after the Army’s 6th Infantry Division killed two DI members and arrested two others during a firefight in Mamasapano town of the same province. (PNA)
