CCTV footage contradicts police claim vs suspected ISIS recruiter

Tunisian national Fehmi Lassqued was presented by the police to the media. Photo by PNP-PIO

Closed circuit television (CCTV) footage belied the claims of the police that a suspected recruiter of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) was arrested at his apartment in Manila.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) had earlier dismissed the complaint against Tunisian Fehmi Lassqued and his girlfriend Anabel Moncera Salipada.

READ: DOJ clears suspected ISIS recruiter

Based on the March 5 resolution, photographs presented by the police as evidence suggest that the pictures were taken in a place other than the apartment of the couple at Room 409 of the Casa Blanca Apartment in Malate, Manila.

The police said the two were arrested at their home in Manila where they seized an unlicensed .45 caliber pistol and four pipe bombs.

But Lassqued and Salipada said they were arrested separately.

READ: Nabbed Tunisian says police ‘forced’ him to say he’s from ISIS

During Monday’s hearing, Senior State Prosecutor Peter Ong presented certified true copies of CCTV footage to arresting officers and representatives of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) that supported the claim of Lassqued that he was arrested by police near a garden at the Ayala Triangle Tower One on the morning of February 16.

Ong said based on the footage, those who arrested the Tunisian were not the same persons present before him.

Another CCTV footage presented also showed that Lassqued was also not at Room 409 of the Casa Blanca Apartment in Malate, Manila when police arrived in the afternoon of Feb. 16 and arrested Salipada.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) is conducting another round of preliminary investigation following the filing of a motion for reconsideration by the police.

The police filed a motion for reconsideration after Ong dismissed its complaint against Lassqued and Salipada. /je