DAVAO CITY — The joint law enforcement agency on Thursday arrested a the local contact and finance officer of the Islamic States of Iraq and Syria(ISIS) in Sulu Province on Thursday in Brgy. Pasil, Indanan, Sulu.
Police Regional Office- Bangsamoro Autonomous Region (PRO-BAR), identified the suspect as Myrna Mabanza, 32.
The operation was conducted by joint elements from the Philippine National Police (PNP), Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA), and Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC), and supported by the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) through the service of warrants of arrest.
Mabanza, according to a report from the PRO-BAR, has a standing warrant of arrests for five counts of violation of Republic Act (RA) No. 10168 (The Terrorism Financing Prevention and Suppression Act of 2012) and RA No. 11479 (The Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020) under Criminal Case Numbers 53502, 53503, 53504, 53506, and 53507, all issued on December 20, 2023 in Zamboanga City, Zamboanga del Sur, no bail recommended.
Mabanza was allegedly involved in the transfer of funds with the leader of Islamic State East Asia, the late Isnilon Hapilon, and served as intermediary between Hapilon and Daesh elements in Syria.
Authorities said Mabanza 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.
“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’s unyielding efforts to get out of the Financial Action Task Force’s Grey List”, according to the Philippine Anti-Terror Council (ATC). T
he Anti-Terrorism Council (ATC), chaired by Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, lauds the arrest of Myrna A. Mabanza, a United States Specially Designated Global Terrorist and included in the United Nations Security Council Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) or the Daesh and al-Qaeda Sanctions List.
