Maute member arrested in Quezon City

Quezon City Police elements and members of the Armed Forces on Thursday morning arrested a suspected Maute-ISIS member who allegedly works at an establishment which serves as a front for the Maute matriarch's business in Novaliches, Quezon City.

According to a report by Allan Gatus on Super Radyo dzBB on Friday, 42-year-old Rasdy Malawani alias Rasdi Macabangkit/Makabangket, was nabbed in his own home by members of the Quezon City Police District Special Operations Unit, District Intelligence Division, National Intelligence Coordinating Agency, and the Armed Forces of the Philippines' Naval Intelligence Service Group.

Malawani allegedly manages Salaam Bazaar in Novaliches Plaza Mall as a front for Ominta Romato Maute, also known as Farhana Maute, the mother of brothers Omar and Abdullah Maute.

Farhana Maute is known as a financier of the Maute group. She is now confined at Bicutan Jail after being arrested in Lanao Del Sur in June.

Police were able to confirm the Maute member's identity through his posts on social media. Authorities were also able to recover a gun from him.

Malawani was presented by police to members of the media on Friday.

He was arrested for violating the Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition Regulation Act, according the QCPD.

Armed with a search warrant, authorities on October 26 at about 6:25 a.m. seized "an unlicensed Colt caliber .45 pistol with five ammunition, a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG), and several bank transaction receipts" at the suspect's residence in Barangay Kaligayahan, Novaliches, Quezon City.

Witnesses to the arrest include Malawani's father Farouk, Barangay Captain Freddy Roxas, and Barangay Kagawad Arnel Gabito.

Police intelligence operations reportedly established that Malawani was "running the bazaar and collecting rents from stallholders that he remitted to someone in Marawi City."

The remittances were later traced to Azesha Macabangkit-Maute, alias Lily, wife of Madie Maute, one of the "architects" of the Marawi siege. The suspect's wife, Princess Makabangkit-Malawani, is sister to Azesha, alias Lily.

These people are "mutually associated" with Jerry Maute, another Maute Group member, who reportedly arrived in Quezon City in November last year and stayed with Malawani in Novaliches. Also seen at Malawani's residence was Tura Marohom Maute, relative of Maute patriarch Engineer Cayamura Maute.

Tura had allegedly left for bomb and explosives training in Malaysia or in Saudi Arabia.

For Police Chief Superintendent Guillermo Lorenzo Eleazar, director of the QCPD, Malawani's arrest will "cripple" the family's business at the Novaliches mall. —Nicole-Anne C. Lagrimas with Amita Legaspi/KG/LBG, GMA News