Immigration officials at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) barred from leaving on Monday seven Malaysia-bound passengers who have the same surname as leaders of the Maute terror group fighting government soldiers in Marawi City.

Bureau of Immigration (BI) port operations division chief Marc Red Mari?as said the passengers were about to board a Cebu Pacific flight for Kuala Lumpur at NAIA 3 terminal when they were held for questioning by authorities.

Mari?as said the immigration officers decided to refer them for secondary inspection after seeing their Maute surname.

The passengers were identified as Ashary Maute, Yasser Maute, Abdulrahman Maute, Al Nizar Maute, Abdulcahar Maute, Acmali Mawiyag and Mawiyag Cota.

As of Monday night, it was learned that four passengers with Maute surnames were still being interrogated by probers from the police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group.

Their three companions, including Abdulcahar Maute, were later released after it was found out they have no criminal records. The Cebu Pacific flight left the airport at 2:15 p.m. DMS