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Friday, March 29, 2024

IS couple deported this week

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THE foreign couple suspected of being members of the Islamic State  who were arrested in Bonifacio Global City in March will be deported anytime this week, the Bureau of Immigration said Tuesday.

Kuwaiti national Hussein Al-Dhafiri and his wife, Rahaf Zina, a Syrian national who were allegedly planning to sow terror in the country, will be included in the bureau’s blacklist order as soon as the two are deported back to their port of origins.

Rahaf is said to be the widow of Abu Jandal Al-Kuwaiti, the second highest commander of ISIS who was killed in the Middle East, while her husband, Al-Dhafiri, is allegedly an ISIS bomb maker who had planned a terror attack in Kuwait.

The couple were arrested by immigration intelligence agent March 25 in Global Bonifacio City, in Taguig.

The BI report said Al-Dhafiri first entered the Philippines on a tourist visa but was able to secure a working visa from a company known as Q8, a recruitment firm which specializes in sending overseas Filipino workers to Kuwait.

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BI associate commissioner and BI-fugitive search unit chief Jose Carlitos Licas said Hussein Al-Dhafiri was able to enter the country using his real name because he is known as Abu Muslim Al-Kuwaiti, an ISIS commander in Syria.

Al-Dhafiri will be deported to Kuwait, while Zina would be sent back to Qatar, her last known location before she arrived in the Philippines.

“The two will be deported anytime this week as soon as the BI receives from the Kuwaiti government the notice on the cancellation of their passports,” he said.

Al-Dhafiri is also facing trial for the crime against the state security in Kuwait.

In a separate development, the Court of Appeals upheld the decision of the Pasig City Regional Trial Court convicting two Indonesian terrorists for the crime of murder with double attempted murder, in connection with their involvement in the bombing of the Awang Airport in Barangay Awang, Datu Odin Sinsuat in Maguindanao in 2003 that killed one person and injured several others.

The CA’s Former Special Sixteenth Division through Associate Justice Marie Christine Azcarraga-Jacob ruled that there was no grave abuse of discretion on the part of the Pasig City RTC in sentencing accused-appellants Zulkifli/Julkifli alias Donis/Doni, Ofracio/Ahmad Faisal and Taufiq Rifqi, members of the notorious Rajah Solaiman Movement, to reclusion perpetua or life imprisonment.

“The court finds no compelling ground to disturb the factual findings of the RTC. As hereinbefore pronounced, the rule is well-settled that factual findings of the trial court regarding the credibility of witnesses are accorded great weight and utmost respect given that trial courts have first hand observation of the witnesses’ demeanor while testifying in court,” the CA ruling said.

The appellate court upheld their decision on April 28, 2016, which affirmed the conviction by the trial court of Zulkifli Rifqui and their two other accused identified as Feliciano de los Reyes alias Box, and Dinno Amor Pareja alias Khaleel.

The case stemmed from the bombing of the Awang Airport on Feb. 20, 2003 where Sgt. Nelson Corpuz was killed while several others were injured.

Based on the investigation conducted by authorities, the explosion was caused by an improvised explosive device that was placed in a white Suzuki multicab, which was parked in a restaurant that was placed across the entrance gate of the airport. With Rey E. Requejo

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