ZAMBOANGA CITY – Security forces have foiled an alleged bomb attack for the holiday season and arrested a man suspected of having ties with the Abu Sayyaf (ASG) along with a homemade bomb Wednesday night.

Brig. Gen. Franco Simborio, director of the Zamboanga regional police, on Thursday identified the suspect as Tony Asmun, 57, of Hanapi Drive, Barangay Kasanyangan.

Simborio said Asmun was arrested when police and military operatives, armed with a search warrant, raided his residence in Hanapi Drive around 7:20 pm.

Simborio said they received a report a reported Abu Sayyaf SG member identified as certain alias Putoh and his skipper, had an improvised explosive device (IED), landed at the shore of Barangay Mariki, coming from Barangay Seronggon, Hadji Mohamad Ajul, Basilan province.

“The IED was concealed in a sack of charcoal and transported together with three other sacks of charcoal aboard a motorboat,” Simborio said.

He said that the IED, the main charge of which is a 90- millimeter high explosive anti-tank ammunition, was deposited at the residence of Asmun in Barangay Kasanyangan.

Asmun has denied any knowledge an IED was hidden in one of the sacks of charcoal that Putoh brought to his residence.

Asmun, who was jailed for four years and five months for drug charges, denied he has ties with the Abu Sayyaf in Basilan. He was released from jail on December 15.

Simborio said that Asmun was placed under the custody of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group-9 (CIDG-9) for documentation and proper disposition.

Mayor Maria Isabelle Climaco-Salazar has ordered the Zamboanga City Police Office to

conduct checkpoints in strategic places to thwart attempt of bombings.

For the past six years, this city recorded no bombing incidents. DMS