MANILA – The alleged Islamic State recruiter that the Justice department cleared of illegal possession of firearms and explosives charges has been deported to Egypt over other violations.
Egyptian national Fehmi Lassoued, who was identified as Tunisian in earlier reports, was flown out of the Philippines on Oct. 6 and later taken into government custody in Cairo, the Bureau of Immigration announced on Tuesday.
While these criminal charges against the 33-year-old foreigner have been dismissed, the Immigration bureau said Lassoued violated immigration laws by submitting “false information” in his working visa application, using an “altered” passport, and for being an “undesirable alien” due to his alleged terrorist links.
Lassoued’s “declared employer in his working visa petition was found to be fictitious and that his Tunisian passport was fraudulently altered,” the bureau said, citing its investigation.
Lassoued was also allegedly found to be using aliases, including Haytham/Haytam Abdulhamid Yusof, Haitam Abdel Hamid Ahmed Youssef, and Youssef Haitham Abdelhamid, and was supposedly referred to in previous media reports as John Rasheed Lassoned.
Lassoued was ordered deported and barred from reentering the Philippines on Sept. 6, the bureau said.
An alleged IS recruiter, negotiator for local government officials in Syria and Turkey, and a commander at the Syria-Turkey border, Lassoued was arrested in the Philippines in February together with his Filipina partner.
Allegedly seized during the operation were a .45 Para Ordinance pistol, ammunition and a magazine, suspected bomb components, electronic devices, and the couple’s passports.
The Philippine National Police lodged a complaint against them for illegal possession of firearms and explosives before the Justice department. A government prosecutor dismissed the complaint in March for lack of merit.
Security camera footage later revealed Lassoued was arrested near a garden at Ayala Triangle One, contrary to the police line that he and his girlfriend, Anabel Salipada, were apprehended at their apartment.
The video also showed Salipada alone being ushered out of the apartment unit at the time of the purported arrest.
In the Department of Justice resolution that dismissed the complaint, Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Peter Ong said the pistol allegedly recovered from the apartment was fake.
The DOJ also said that the photos of alleged evidence did not include the respondents or the arresting officers, and that two of the photos of the suspect and the evidence were taken in a place other than their apartment unit.
Moreover, Lassoued and Salipada were found to have undergone medical examination at two places in two separate occasions, suggesting “they were arrested in separate places at different times.” (GMA News)
