Alleged ISIS finance officer in Sulu arrested

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews) – Authorities arrested a woman who is allegedly the local contact and finance officer of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in Sulu province on Thursday, February 15.

The suspect, Myrna Mabanza, 32, was arrested in Barangay Pasil in Indanan town, according to a report from the Police Regional Office- Bangsamoro Autonomous Region (PRO-BAR).

She has a standing warrant of arrests for five counts of violation of Republic Act (RA) 10168 (Terrorism Financing Prevention and Suppression Act of 2012) and RA 11479 (AntiTerrorism Act of 2020) docketed under Criminal Cases 53502, 53503, 53504, 53506, and 53507, all issued on December 20, 2023 by a court in Zamboanga City.

No bail was recommended by the court for her temporary liberty.

Mabanza was allegedly involved in the transfer of funds with the leader of the ISIS in East Asia, the late

Isnilon Hapilon, and served as intermediary between Hapilon and ISIS elements in Syria.

Brigadier General Allan Nobleza, PRO-BAR director, said the suspect is allegedly the widow of Malaysian Muhammad Najib bin Hussien, alias Abu Anas, purportedly an ISIS member who introduced ISIS in the Southern Philippines.

She was declared by the United States Defense Department as a specially designated global terrorist along with ISIS founder

Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi and Hapilon, Nobleza said in a statement.

Hapilon was killed on October 16, 2017 during the Marawi Siege that started in May of the same year.

Mabanza also allegedly helped facilitate the travel of a representative of an ISIS-linked terrorist group, the Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), from Indonesia to the Philippines to purchase arms and to set up training courses for proISIS 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,” the Anti-Terror Council (ATC) said in a statement.

The ATC, chaired by Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, lauded the arrest of Mabanza, who is also allegedly included as a “specially designated global terrorist” by the United Nations Security Council.

The operation to arrest Mabanza was conducted by joint elements of the Philippine National Police, Armed Forces of the Philippines, National Intelligence Coordinating Agency, and the Anti-Money Laundering Council, and supported by the Presidential AntiOrganized Crime Commission. (Ferdinandh Cabrera / MindaNews)