DOJ starts hearing on junked raps vs ‘IS recruiter’

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has started hearing the appeal of the Philippine National Police on the dismissal of criminal charges against an Egyptian man tagged by the PNP as a commander of the terrorist group Islamic State (IS).

Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Peter Ong pre- sented evidence on Monday, disproving the allegations of the PNP against Fehmi Lassqued and his Filipina partner, Anabel Salipada.

Ong cited closed-circuit television footage, which showed that Lassqued was arrested at the Ayala Triangle garden in Makati on Feb. 16.

Ong said this is contrary to the claim of the police that Lassqued and Salipada were nabbed in an apartment along Adriatico street in Ermita, Manila where an unlicensed .45-caliber handgun and four pipe bombs were recovered.

The prosecutor pointed out that the policemen who nabbed the couple were not the same persons who claimed to have arrested the suspects.

In its resolution last month, the DOJ dismissed the charges of illegal possession of explosive devices and firearms against Lassqued and Salipada for lack of probable cause.

The DOJ held that the PNP failed to prove its allegation that explosives and guns were seized from the couple.

DOJ prosecutors believed that the PNP submitted false information in its complaint.

The suspects conceded that the photographs of the seized items – which were among the evidence submitted by police – were taken at the apartment but stressed that the photos did not include the arresting officers and the suspects.

PNP chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa expressed dismay after Lassqued, a suspected recruiter of the IS, walked free because of loopholes in the complaint.

Dela Rosa said the case of Lassqued should serve as a lesson for police investigators to be extra diligent in gathering evidence against suspected criminals.

The PNP chief described the issue of Lassqued’s location at the time of his arrest as a “boundary problem.”

“The substance was there. The case was dismissed on technical grounds,” Dela Rosa said.