By Xinhua,
Cotabato, Philippines : Philippine security forces on Thursday filed charges of illegal possession of explosives against a suspected foreign terrorist captured earlier this week in the restive southern Philippines.
Major Randolph Cabangbang, a regional military spokesman, said police are also looking if Muhammand Alpariz was involved in the series of deadly bomb attacks in the region.
The Bangladeshi national was arrested on Dec. 2 at his apartment in the province of Shariff Kabunsuan and is currently detained at the police headquarters in Davao City.
The police believe that Alpariz is a member of Jemaah Islamiyah(JI). JI is an al-Qaida-linked network in the Southeast Asia that was responsible for a series of bombings in the region, including the 2002 Bali bomb attack that killed 202 people.
But the suspect’s wife, Sulaika, told reporters that her husband has no connection with terror groups.
“He is not a terrorist but a mobile phone repairman,” Sulaika said.
Earlier, the military said that at least 58 foreign militants were operating in the southern Philippines, including 30 JI members.
JI bomb experts Omar Patek and Dulmatin, both accused of several bombings in the region, were monitored hiding in the southern Philippines.
Patek is believed to have served as the assistant for the field coordinator of the Bali bombings while his companion Dulmatin, an electronics specialist with training in al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan, is a senior figure of the terrorist network.