[PhilStar] The Philippine military on Wednesday filed criminal charges against a Spaniard caught carrying grenades and bomb parts earlier this week in Basilan. Abdelhakim Labidi Adib | ... a traditional Spanish name, familiar to us from the Reconquista sagas — or perhaps not... |
Labidi Adib was nabbed at a roadside checkpoint in Masulo town last Monday. He was reportedly carrying a backpack containing a hand grenade, one rifle grenade, a cellphone to be used as detonator, his passport and P8,520 cash.
He was captured in the hinterlands of Maluso town, where the Abu Sayyaf has a presence, while a local rebel with him managed to escape.
Panti said, "Labidi Adib is a known Abu Sayyaf sympathizer and ardent supporter of the establishment of (an) Islamic caliphate here in the Philippines. He was arrested. He threw (away) his bag containing explosives while his companion jumped from a cliff."
Labidi Adib later told prosecutors that he “came from the jungle” in Basilan but refused to say why he traveled there and whom he met. He said this was the first time he visited the Philippines and went to Basilan because he wanted to meet beautiful women. But when he was asked again what he was doing in Basilan, he refused to answer.
Labidi Adib, of Tunisian descent,
| ...ah yes, those traditional Tunisian-Spaniards... |
Authorities said Labidi Adib arrived in the Philippines in October 2017, about the time the siege in Marawi City ended.