A suspected member of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) was arrested on New Year’s Day in Fairview, Quezon City.
The Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Quezon City Police District (QCPD), however, offered slightly different versions on the circumstances of the arrest of Datu Omar Palty, who also went by the alias Allan Palte.
Lt. Gen. Archie Gamboa, PNP officer in charge, said Palty was in Manila not to sow violence, but to enjoy the holiday break.
“He’s here for some R&R. He was on vacation. He went on holiday here in Manila. Incidentally he got unlucky,” he told reporters in a briefing.
Palty, who is facing arrest for a string of cases, was simply served a warrant, he added.
QCPD officials, however, said in a statement that its Investigation and Detection Unit, headed by Maj. Elmer Monsalve, entrapped Palty on the corner of Adrian and Banning streets in North Fairview for dealing firearms.
Policemen collared him after he handed over a .45-caliber pistol to an agent. They also seized a grenade and the P10,000 marked money from the suspect.
According to the PNP, his arrest was a result of a joint operation of the PNP Intelligence Group and the QCPD.
Palty is a suspected member of a BIFF faction led by Commander Esmael Abubakar and eventually joined the Daulah Islamiyah under Esmael Abdulmalik, alias Abu Toraype.
The suspect was allegedly tapped by Abdulmalik to act as his group’s pointman in Metro Manila who would coordinate with Daulah Islamiyah operatives in Sulu and Basilan.
Gamboa said that Palty was involved in the 2009 attack on a military camp in Midsayap, North Cotabato, that killed two soldiers; a 2014 attack on an Army detachment in Aleosan, Cotabato; and the April 2015 killing of a couple and a security guard in San Simon, Pampanga.