GENERAL SANTOS CITY, Philippines — The police arrested Wednesday night a suspected member of an Islamic State-inspired bloc reportedly planning to perpetrate bombings in the commercial center of Soccsksargen region.
Chief Superintendent Eliseo Rasco of Police Regional Office-12 said Thursday that 30-year-old Jamio "Jum-Jum" Sala has been detained and is being questioned on his supposed links with the Maute terror group and the Ansa’r Khilafa Philippines.
Rasco said Sala is among nearly 200 people listed in Martial Law Arrest Order No.2 that the Department of National Defense issued after President Rodrigo Duterte placed Mindanao under martial law after combined Maute and Abu Sayyaf terrorists attacked Marawi City on May 23, 2017, sparking a five-month conflict.
According to a report by The STAR in June 2017, a "Jumar Sala" and a "Jamjo Sala" are listed in Arrest Order No. 2.
Sala was cornered by a police team in Barangay Dadiangas East after the regional police received tips that Sala's groups plan to bomb public places on Christmas Day.
Sala will be prosecuted for possession of an explosive because police recovered a grenade from him when he was arrested, Rasco said.