4 suspected Abu Sayyaf members held in Zamboanga City

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Zamboanga del Sur — Four suspected members of the Abu Sayyaf Group were arrested in a dawn operation Thursday, Sept. 26, at their temporary residence in Barangay Baliwasan here.

Major Edwin Duco, spokesperson of the Zamboanga City Police Office, identified the four suspected bandits as Aljiver Habibula, 35, Omar Julaspih, 22, Rody Marail, 36, and Nash Amik, 32, all Sulu natives who are residing at Manggal Drive in Barangay Baliwasan.

The arrests came after authorities conducted a court-sanctioned search on their premises around 3 a.m. Thursday that yielded bomb-making materials in their possession.

Seized during the raid were:

-four non-electric blasting caps;

-one electric blasting cap;

-five pieces of 40-mm live ammunition;

-a roll of detonating cord;

-undetermined weight of suspected ammonium nitrate with  fuel oil contained in a 500ml transparent plastic              container;

-two cellular phones suspected to be used as triggering devices;

-a roll of electrical tape;

-stranded electric wires with different colors;

-undetermined length of magnetic wire;

-common nails;

-one round bamboo containing undetermined weight of white granules suspected to be ammonium nitrate; and

-19 live ammunition of caliber 5.56.

Duco said the four suspects, who belonged to an urban terror cell operating here and in Basilan, have been on their watch list for some time now.

The dawn operation was launched by a composite team of police and military personnel. /lzb