Kuwait Cit: A Kuwaiti man and his Syrian wife are being held in the Philippines on suspicion of belonging to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
Philippine security forces arrested the suspect and a five-month pregnant Syrian for suspected links to Islamic State three months after they arrived, authorities said.
Kuwaiti Husayn al-Dhafiri and Syrian Rahaf Zina had been living and working in Manila since January before they were arrested on Mar 25 in an upscale commercial district, Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre told reporters.
The two, wearing orange prison uniforms, were paraded in front of journalists at the National Bureau of Investigation office where they were being held.
Authorities said al-Dakiri would be deported to Kuwait where he is suspected of bomb plots. Zina would be deported to Qatar, from where she last came. The two were not available for comment.
"We are only speculating why they are in the Philippines," Aguirre said after immigration authorities said the two had traveled to Davao in the south and Cebu in the central Philippines.
Aguirre said they had relied heavily on information from foreign allies to detect the presence of suspected Islamic State militants.
They first came to the Philippines last year on tourist visas but returned in January on working visas after a Kuwaiti manpower agency hired them, immigration authorities said.
A security source Alrai newspaper said the Philippine authorities had arrested the couple after receiving secret information from Kuwait.
Husayn al-Dhafiri is the brother of Abdulmohsen Al Dhafiri “Abu Jandal”, a dangerous ISIS member who was killed a few months ago in Iraq in a raid by the international coalition.
A security Kuwaiti delegation reportedly arrived in Manila to take part in the investigation prior to the extradition of Al-Dhafiri to Kuwait.