MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Justice has cleared a Tunisian accused of being a leader of the ISIS terrorist group of illegal possession of explosives raps.
Fehmi Lassqued, who claims to be Egyptian but who has a Tunisian passport, and his partner were arrested by military and police in their Manila apartment on February 16.
Said to be seized in their possession were a .45-cal gun, ammunistion and several components of an improvised explosive device.
But Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Peter Ong, in resolving the complaint, said that there is no probable cause to indict Lassqued and Anabel Moncera Salipada on illegal possession of firearms.
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Ong said that the facts belie the complainants' claim as the arresting officers were not shown in the photographs presented as evidence.
"It is contrary to the natural order of things for the arresting officers and respondents not to be shown in the three photographs...especially so that that it is necessary to document their presence during the implementation of [search warrant] in order to sustain the complainant's story," the resolution reads.
The prosecutor also noted that the Lassqued and Salipada went through medical examinations in separate venues, which meant that they were arrested in different places, contrary to the claim of the respondents.
Both the respondents said that they had not seen the firearms supposedly confiscated from them until the inquest proceeding at the DOJ.
Lassqued, in his counter-affidavit, also said that he was arrested while he was taking a cigarette break from his Spanish class. Salipada said that she was in their apartment.
Salipada also said that no search warrant was presented to her. She added that she was not there when the authorities searched their apartment.
The DOJ also ordered the police to return money and mobile phones seized from Lassqued and his companion.
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