Touring Couple nabbed for ‘links to terror group, threat to PH’

Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente (left) and DOJ Sec. Vitaliano Aguirre present alleged Islamic State members Husayn Al-Dhafiri and Rahaf Zina (center) on Thursday. —JOAN BONDOC

Government agents acting on information from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) have arrested a couple with alleged links to the terror group IS (Islamic State).

Husayn Al-Dhafiri and Rahaf Zina were arrested on March 25 outside a shopping mall in Taguig City, but Justice Vitaliano Aguirre presented them to the media at the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) headquarters only on Thursday.

The arrest was kept under wraps for several days to wait if it would draw any “reaction,” Aguirre explained.

Citing intelligence reports from the Armed Forces of the Philippines, Aguirre said Al-Dhafiri, a Kuwaiti national, “has links to terrorism and is believed to pose a threat to the national security of the Philippines.”

“He is alleged to have been involved in explosives manufacturing and possibly in operational planning against Kuwait,” he added.

Zina, a Syrian, was reportedly the former wife of IS’ “No. 2 man,” according to lawyer Jose Carlito Licas of the Bureau of Immigration.

At the same briefing, BI Commissioner Jaime Morente said the couple were in the country “because they are planning to bomb (a target)—not sure if in Kuwait or in the Philippines.”

The suspects were tracked down by the BI with help from the FBI, the officials said.

Since 2016, Al-Dhafiri has been in and out of the Philippines as a tourist but he last entered the country in January this year on a working visa, which a manpower company of dubious background helped him obtain, according to Morente.

Licas noted that Al-Dhafiri used his real name in his passport and not the one that appeared on a watch list kept by the Kuwait government. The ongoing NBI investigation has yet to verify his job and the company he worked for.

Licas said a background investigation was still ongoing to determine if Al-Dhafiri—who reportedly went to Davao and Cebu in January—had already made contact with local terrorist groups.

The probe so far has gathered scant information on Zina, who is believed to have been placed in Aldhafiri’s care as part of a “tradition” among IS members to look after the wife of a slain commander.

Al-Dhafiri and Zina were detained at the NBI for violation of immigration laws and are set to be deported to Kuwait and Qatar, respectively.

Facing reporters, all Al-Dhafiri could say was: “I need a lawyer, please.”