Immigration chief seeks court okay to deport suspected terrorist

Philippine authorities said yesterday they would seek court permission to deport a Kuwait national for suspected links to terror groups in the southern Philippines.

The Kuwaiti, identified in an Immigration Bureau statement as Jasem A.J. Alhassan, was arrested Sunday after alighting from a flight in Zamboanga City, a frequent target of Muslim militants.

Immigration Commissioner Andrea Domingo was quoted as saying Alhassan, 40, should be considered an "undesirable alien," based on military surveillance of his activities in the south where Muslim rebels are active.

The Kuwaiti first arrived in this country in 1998 and has used different aliases, such as Jasem Mustapha when he married a woman in the southern island of Basilan, the bureau said.

In his trips to Basilan, he was reportedly seen visiting camps of the Muslim separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels and the Abu Sayyaf, a feared kidnapping group, the Immigration bureau said.

The Abu Sayyaf is alleged to have links with the al-Qaeda terror network while regional military intelligence reports have linked the MILF with the Jemaah Islamiyah, said to be the regional allies of the al-Qaeda.

Surveillance on Alhassan was stepped up after a bomb accidentally exploded in a mosque he frequented in the southern city of Pagadian, the bureau said.

The Immigration Bureau said it would hold Alhassan while the military considered filing charges against him in court.

The statement however did not explicitly say Alhassan had taken part in any terrorist acts.

Television station ABS-CBN quoted Alhassan’s Filipina wife as denying he was engaged in illegal activities and insisted he was only overseeing charity projects for the Muslim minority in the south.

Kuwait embassy spokesmen could not be contacted for comment. — AFP