Video belies cops’ claim that Tunisian nabbed in Manila

Closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage belied police officers' claims that they arrested Tunisian Fehmi Lassoued at his condominium unit in Ermita, Manila on February 16.

Lassoued, who police suspected to be a recruiter for the terrorist Islamic State, was earlier cleared of illegal possession of firearms and explosives raps by the Department of Justice.

The National Capital Region Police Office has filed a motion for reconsideration of the dismissal of the complaints filed against Lassoued and his Filipino girlfriend Anabel Moncera Salipada.

Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Peter Ong, the prosecutor who dismissed the complaints, showed the video at a hearing of the motion.

Video subpoenaed from Ayala Triangle Tower One showed that Lassoued was apprehended near a garden at the commercial building on the morning of February 16.

Officers earlier said they arrested the suspected Lassoued and Salipada together at Room 409 of the Casa Blanca Apartment.

The claimed confiscating a handgun and bomb components on the afternoon of the same day, a narrative that was refuted by the foreigner on the day he was presented to the media.

Ong said the men who apprehended Lassoued as seen in the video were not the same people who presented themselves as the arresting officers.

Further casting doubt on police claims, CCTV footage Ong obtained from the Casa Blanca Apartment captured Salipada alone being ushered out of Room 409.

On March 5, Ong dismissed the police's complaint for illegal possession of firearms and explosives against Lassoued and Salipada for lack of merit.

He said the photos of alleged evidence included neither the respondents nor the arresting officers.

Two of the photos of the suspect and the evidence were allegedly taken at a place different from the apartment unit. 

One added that the seized .45 caliber pistol was fake.

PNP spokesperson Chief Superintendent John Bulalacao declined to comment on the matter on account of it being sub judice, or under judicial consideration. —NB, GMA News