ZAMBOANGA CITY –Security forces arrested a suspected Abu Sayyaf militant and seized several blasting caps from his house on an island off Zamboanga City in southern Philippines, officials said Tuesday.
Senior Inspector Dahlan Samuddin, a regional police spokesman, said policemen backed by soldiers arrested the 50-year old Abdulhalik Ajibon on Sacol Island on October 13.
He said the police seized 5 blasting caps in the house of Ajibon, who is currently being investigated by the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) in Zamboanga City.
The CIDG said Ajibon also has a relative who is a member of the Abu Sayyaf group in nearby Basilan province.
Ajibon’s wife denied all the accusation against him. “My husband is neither a member nor a supporter of the Abu Sayyaf. He just takes care of our small (convenience) store,” she said, adding, the blasting caps found by the police were just toys her child was playing.
The arrest of Ajibun came following a foiled bombing in Zamboanga City just recently after authorities disrupted a thermos abandoned at the Plaza Pershing near the City Hall. The thermos was said to have been left by an unidentified woman at the park. It yielded nails and ammonium nitrate, a banned chemical fertilizer widely used by rebels in the manufacture of homemade bombs.
Last month, police also arrested 2 persons – Almuksin Amilussin and Saud Arnado – after they retrieved a cargo from the ferry Magnolia Lili Flora containing 2,000 pieces of blasting caps in Zamboanga City. The detonators came from the southern town of Jolo. (Mindanao Examiner)
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