Police reveal details of foiled terror attack in Manila
Philippine police authorities revealed on Wednesday details surrounding the arrest of the third suspect in the foiled terror attack in Manila near the United States Embassy last week, November 28.
Mohammad Jumao-as was captured sometime Friday, December 3, in Bulacan where he works as an X-ray technician. He is from Barangay Santa Ana, Bulakan town.
Police initially responded to a bomb threat at 1:35 pm in the hospital in Barangay Matimbo, Malolos City where the suspect was working. No bomb was found in the medical facility.
He tried to escape when he sensed policemen were near the hospital where he worked. He was captured while riding a motorcycle. Police got a caliber 45 pistol and a fragmentation hand grenade from him.
Cases for violation of Republic Act 10591, or the Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition Act, and RA 9516 for illegal possession of explosives were filed against him before the office of the assistant provincial prosecutor in Malolos City.
National Capital Region Police Office Director Oscar Albayalde said Jumao-as was initially spotted in a footage from a closed-circuit television camera together with the two other suspects earlier captured by police, Rayson Kilala and Jiaher Guinar. They all
belong to the Ansar Al-Khilafah, a terrorist group based in Mindanao.
He was initially tagged as a "person of interest" during the initial stages of the investigation. But it became apparent he was involved as the CCTV footage show him with the other suspects conducting "casing" operations at Luneta Park and the US Embassy several hours before a street sweeper discovered the improvised explosive device they left in a trash bin along Roxas Boulevard.
"Since the start we knew these people belong to one cell and and there are about five people in their group," Albayalde said in a news briefing in Camp Crame.
Police said Jumao-as has been living in Luzon for four years. He was a Christian before he reverted to Islam.
"He is based here but according on our information, he has been traveling to different places in the south," said Senior Superintendent Joel Napoleon Coronel, Manila police chief, in the same briefing.
It turned out Jumao-as has a Facebook account. "They are using Facebook and other platforms to disseminate their information and that's why were are fortunate,” said Coronel
Some people in the photographs who in Jumao-as’ Facebook account are being investigated.
A manhunt is ngoing for the arrest of the two suspects. Authorities believe one is still hiding in Metro Manila or in adjacent provinces while the other returned to Mindanao. Emmanuel Tupas/DMS
