Philippines deports Australian 'jihadist'

MANILA, Philippines — An Australian Islamic preacher who openly supports jihadists online was deported from the Philippines and local authority would continue to keep him under surveillance after his return to the Oceanic country.

Robert Edward Cerantonio, commonly known as Musa has suspected links with the extremist militant group Islamic State of Iraw and the Levant or ISIS fighting a war in the Middle East with Syrian and Iraqi government.

Cerantonio, who used to be a Catholic and converted to Islam when he was 17, was arrested in Lapu-Lapu City on July 11 at the behest of the Australian government.

His Filipino girlfriend, Joan Navarro Montayre, a freelance costume production designer, was also arrested for allegations of fraud. Police in Lapu-Lapu City said she and Cerantonio failed to settle their hotel bill.

The Australian Federal Police met him at the airport Thursday when he arrived in Melbourne Wednesday morning and interrogated him.

"Mr. Cerantonio's known social media postings are considered offensive and disturbing, however have been assessed as not breaching Australian law to this point," the Australian police said in a statement.

Cerantonio was deported due to "invalid travel documentation" and overstaying. He boarded Passenger Airlines flight PR209 to Melbourne at 10 p.m. Tuesday night (Manila time). Police believe he had been living in the country since 2013.

A report by the International Centre for the Study of Radicalization had described him as an important "spiritual authority" for foreign fighters in Iraq and Syria.

"One in four foreign fighters followed his Twitter account," the report said. - with reports from Xinhua and Edu Punay