ALLEGED ISIS FUNDING ‘FACILITATOR’ CAPTURED IN SULU

A 32-YEAR-OLD woman wanted by the Philippine and United States governments for allegedly facilitating the funding operations of the ISIS Abu Sayyaf terror group on Thursday was arrested in Sulu.

Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group director Maj. Gen. Romeo M. Caramat Jr. identified the suspect as Myrna Ajijul Mabanza, a resident of Bgy. Pasil in Indanan, Sulu.

Mabanza is tagged as the most wanted person in Mindanao.

The official said that around 5:50 a.m. Thursday,  members of the Task Force Sanglahi Bravo, the CIDG Zamboanga City Provincial Field Unit, the PNP Intelligence Group, the Police Regional Office 9, the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force, the Anti-Money Laundering Council and the Army’s 11^th Infantry Division stormed the suspect’s hideout.

The suspect was placed under arrest on the strength of warrants for five counts of violation of Republic Act 10168 or the Terrorism Financing Prevention and Suppression Act of 2012 issued by Judge Shaldilyn Bangsaja of the Zamboanga City Regional Trial Court  last December 20, with no bail recommended.

Authorities described Mabanza as a U.S. Specially Designated Global Terrorist included in the United Nations Security Council’s Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) or the Daesh and al-Qaeda Sanctions List.

The suspect was said to be involved in the transfer of funds with the Amir of Islamic State East Asia, the late Abu Sayyaf leader Isnilon Hapilon, and served as intermediary between Hapilon and Daesh elements in Syria.

She also helped facilitate the travel of a representative of a Daesh-linked terrorist group, the Jamaah Ansharut Daulah(JAD), from Indonesia to the Philippines to purchase arms and to set up training courses for pro-Daesh Indonesian recruits, with local terrorist groups on firearms use, and basic bomb-making.

Anti-Terrorism Council chairman Executive Secretary Lucas P. Bersamin said Mabanza’s arrest marks another positive note for the Philippines’ whole-of-nation campaign to address terrorism and terrorism financing that will reflect well to contribute in the country unyielding efforts to get out of the Financial Action Task Force’s Grey List.

In a report to PNP chief Gen. Benjamin C. Acorda Jr., the PNP-CIDG said that the accused was a former school teacher in Zamboanga City who was later identified as the niece of the late  ASG sub-leaders Abdullah Ajilul  alias “Abu Termiji” and Amilhamja Ajilul who were involved in a series of bombings, kidnappings, and shooting incidents in Basilan and Zamboanga City.

The suspect was also described as the widow of Mohammad Najib bin Hussin alias “Abu Anas,” a Malaysian terrorist who introduced ISIL in the Southern Philippines.

She was influenced by ISIL ideology for propaganda, recruitment, and financial facilitation to ISIL-influenced groups in the country, particularly the Daulah Islamiyah (DI) and Abu Sayyaf Group, said Caramat.

Along with ISIL founder Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi and Hapilon,  Mabanza was declared by the U.S. government as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist.