An Australian with suspected links to Islamic extremists and his Filipina girlfriend were arrested by police inside their rented apartment in Barangay Pajac, Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu early Friday morning.
Chief Superintendent Prudencio Tom Bañas, Police Regional Office (PRO)-Central Visayas director, identified them as Robert Edward “Musa” Cerantonio, 29, of Melbourne, Australia and Joean Montayre, 32, of Tipolo, Mandaue City.
Quoting international police sources, Bañas said that Cerantonio is a global advocate of jihad, which is a war fought by Muslims to defend or spread their beliefs.
“He espouses jihad. Siguro hindi na siya gumagawa ng bomba (he may not make bombs), but then he does the convincing. He spreads the advocacy,” Bañas said in a press briefing.
An Associated Press report also said that Cerantonio was rallying support for militants in Syria.
Police served a warrant of deportation issued by the Bureau of Immigration (BI) after the Australian federal government cancelled Cerantonio’s passport once he was classified as a “person of interest.”
A joint police operation led by Senior Superintendent Conrado Capa, PRO-Central Visayas' deputy regional director for operations, went to the two-storey apartment at 5:30 a.m. with the warrant issued last Thursday night.
The couple was caught by surprise and Cerantonio, at one point, put his hands on the window to show he wasn’t armed.
‘Jihadist’ Robert Edward Musa Cerantonio caught in Cebu, Philippines | Sun.Star