159 bullets found among donations for Marawi

A Mandaluyong condo resident received these ‘relief goods’ from a still-unidentified donor. —CYRILLE CUPINO

It was not the kind of “help” Mohaimen Mutalib had in mind when he initiated a relief operation for the displaced residents of his native Marawi City.

Around 6 p.m. on Monday, the 28-year-old Mutalib was sorting the goods he had so far gathered at his condominium unit in Mandaluyong City when he noticed a particularly heavy eco bag among the donations.

Written on the bag was the name “Lito Grey,” while inside were two boxes of 9-millimeter bullets, a gun holster, a gun cleaning kit and a pistol magazine.

In total, the bag contained 159 rounds of ammunition, according to the Mandaluyong police who were alerted by Mutalib, a software engineer who said he had personally started a relief drive for the besieged Islamic city, where his brothers were based.

Senior Supt. Joaquin Alva, Mandaluyong police chief, said the initial investigation showed that the bag came from the office of Aj Salvani Cubarrubia, an employee of Pavilion Mall also in Mandaluyong.

Lito Grey, meanwhile, is reportedly a Quezon City resident. A man by that name was found by the Mandaluyong police to be working in a Quezon City restaurant, but he denied making any donation for Marawi.

“The donor might be trying to mislead people,” Alva said. “Either the boxes [of bullets] were accidentally sent [to Mutalib] or the sender really wanted to help Marawi residents [by arming them].”

According to SPO1 Gregorio Acbay, the case investigator, Mutalib was planning to send the donations through Edicute Inc., a nongovernment organization helping Marawi refugees.

It turned out that the bag had been at Cubarrubia’s office for five days before it was sent to Mutalib’s condo on Reliance Street, Alva said. “They should have checked the contents of the donations first before accepting anything. What if there’s [a] bomb in it?”

Acbay said Cubarrubia later executed an affidavit saying he could no longer remember who brought the bag to his office.

“Once [the source of the bag] is identified, we will look into his criminal liability, if he has connections with Marawi terrorists. We are still waiting for feedback,” said Eastern Police District director Chief Supt. Romulo Sapitula, adding that closed circuit television cameras in Cubarrubia’s office and Mutalib’s condo building were being checked.