Marawi inmate freed by Maute terrorists arrested

MALABANG, Lanao del Sur -- Military authorities arrested Friday one of the inmates of Marawi City jail freed by Maute terrorists as they lay siege the city on May 23.

Lt. Col. Ruben Aquino, commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Battalion based, identified the recaptured fugitive as Arno Bationg, 40.

He was arrested by Army troops and local police in Barangay Tubok, Malabang town.

Bationg is now undergoing investigation for his alleged involvement in the five-month hostilities.

Col. Gerry Besana, chief of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division Civil Military Operation, said Ationg is believed to have joined the ISIS-inspired group after he and about 100 other inmates were set free by the terrorists.

Maute and Abu Sayyaf gunmen stormed the facility on May 23, disarmed jail guards and allowed inmates to escape, some were convinced to join the terrorist group.

“Bationg could be one of them,” Besana said, adding that he has bullet scars on his right leg.

Army intelligence operatives said Bationg fled from Marawi after he was injured in government operations.

(PNA/Edwin Fernandez )