Tipster gets P.5-million reward for RSM leader's arrest

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine National Police yesterday awarded a cash reward of P500,000 to a tipster who helped its Intelligence Group (IG) arrest Dino Amor Pareja, alias Khalil Pareja, leader of the Rajah Solaiman Movement (RSM), a radical Islamist group linked to several terrorist acts.

Police intelligence agents nabbed Pareja in Sitio Tuca Dayawan, Marawi City last Friday by virtue of an arrest warrant for rebellion issued by Judge Marissa Macaraeg-Guillen of the National Capital Region Judicial Region Branch 60.

Pareja is now detained at the Custodial Center in Camp Crame. No bail was recommended for his temporary liberty.

IG director Chief Superintendent Rolando Añonuevo said the tipster had been working with the PNP for the past years, helping them keep track of Pareja’s whereabouts.

The RSM, composed of converts to Islam, has reported links to Southeast Asian terror group Jemaah Islamiyah and the Abu Sayyaf.

Police tagged the RSM in the SuperFerry 14 bombing attack in 2004 that killed 116 people. The ferry bombing was the world’s worst maritime terror attack in recent years.

The RSM was also implicated in the February 2005 Valentine’s Day bombing attacks in Metro Manila that left 16 people dead.

Pareja took over as RSM head with the arrest in 2005 of his brother-in-law Hilarion Santos, then the group’s leader. The United States government had also offered a $90,000 reward for Pareja’s capture.

Pareja, according to the PNP-IG, underwent demolition and explosives training from the Jemaah Islamiyah in March 2004 at Camp Jabal Guba on Mt. Cararao.  

Añonuevo said they had been on the lookout for Pareja since he left Metro Manila and went to Mindanao last year to link up with the Abu Sayyaf in an attempt to reorganize the RSM.

With Pareja’s arrest, Añonuevo said the RSM has been greatly weakened and has lost its strength to launch terrorist attacks.

Añonuevo, however, said police intelligence units were still monitoring the members of the RSM, who the PNP said have joined the Abu Sayyaf and splinter groups of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

According to Añonuevo, when the RSM was founded in 2000, it had at least 30 members, with a 10-man core group.

He said Pareja is undergoing tactical interrogation at Camp Crame. “He is very civil with us. He is answering the questions that we ask,” he said.

With Pareja’s arrest, PNP chief Director General Jesus Verzosa said the national police is now going after some 20 members of the MILF’s “elite force” who have been linked to several bombings in the past few months.