Operation to capture Zulkilfi Hir alias Marwan, dead or alive, was kept in utmost secrecy as he was considered the “Osama bin Laden of Southeast Asia”.

Published: Thursday January 29, 2015 MYT 11:46:00 AM
Updated: Thursday January 29, 2015 MYT 1:59:09 PM

Sacked police chief tells why ops to nab Marwan kept secret

Members of the PNP-SAF prepare for the grim task of carrying the caskets of slain police commandos during arrival honors at Villamor Airbase. At least 44 PNP commandos died during an encounter with Moro rebels on Jan 25 in Mamasapano, Maguindanao. LYN RILLON/Philippine Inquirer/ANN

MANILA: An operation to capture Zulkilfi Hir alias Marwan, dead or alive, was kept in utmost secrecy as he was considered the “Osama bin Laden of Southeast Asia”. 

This was the reason, the Philippines National Police (PNP) director Getulio Napeñas gave as to why he did not coordinate with the military before launching “Oplan Wolverine,” to get Marwan, the 49-year-old Muar born Malaysian for whom the United States has offered a US$6 million reward. 

In giving details of the operations, Napenas said it was a command decision and he decided that it was best not to inform other units. 

“It was a judgment call and I take full responsibility,” said Napeñas who relieved of his post Tuesday pending investigation of the debacle. 

He compared the secrecy of the Special Action Force “Oplan Wolverine” to “Operation Neptune Spear,” the covert US Navy Seals operation that cornered al-Qaeda chief Osama in Abbottabad, Pakistan, in March 2011. 

“Why, was the Pakistani government informed about the operation that got Osama? No, right? This is the same. We received information that required action and it was our duty to take action. It’s inherent to our job as law enforcers and as one command,” he said. 

He said, however, that he made a call to one of his superiors, deputy director-general Leonardo Espina, the PNP officer in charge. 

Napeñas explained that under police operational procedures, a commander should inform his superior about a mission before or during the operation. 

He said he initially informed Espina about the Mamasapano operation through a text message at 5.30am on Sunday. 

“I informed him that the operation against Marwan was under way. We were already there and the troops were already deployed,” he said. 

He said he could not go directly and report to Interior Secretary Mar Roxas, who has supervision over the PNP, because Espina came first in the chain of command. 

Napeñas said the secrecy about the operation was deliberate and recommended by intelligence operatives on the ground. 

Not informing the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) was part of the whole plan, he said. 

Napeñas said he knew that Mamasapano was controlled by the MILF, which has three command bases there - the 106th, 105th and 118th. 

But the intelligence information received by the SAF placed Marwan right there, he said. 

“We worked hard on this and we couldn’t allow our work to go to waste by informing the MILF. We don’t trust the MILF,” he said. 

A police source said that the plan to get Marwan had been running since 2010.

Prepared by the Office of the Director for Intelligence (DI), it became official in 2011 and was named "Oplan Wolverine". 

In the same year, the plan was endorsed by the Office of the Chief PNP, Director General Alan Purisima, and the US-trained SAF was tapped to carry out the operation.

Also in 2011, the source said, Purisima endorsed the plan to the Office of the Presidential Anti-Crime Commission under Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr for “additional support".

The plan was not revised despite the suspension of Purisima last year following accusations of corruption, the source said. 

At the start, the source said, all operations related to the plan were jointly undertaken by the PNP and the military. But, as already admitted by Napeñas, the SAF carried out the Mamasapano operation alone. 

Napeñas mobilised 392 SAF policemen for the covert operation in Tukanalipao village, Mamasapano town, Maguindanao province, on Sunday to serve a warrant of arrest on Marwan, a bomb expert trained by the Indonesia-based terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah. 

Abdul Basit Usman, a local bomb expert with a US$3-million price on his head, was the secondary target of the operation, Napeñas said. 

Without coordination with the military and the MILF, which are observing a truce following the signing of a peace agreement between the Moro rebels and the government last year, the policemen walked naked into unsecured territory. 

They got Marwan, but 44 of them were killed in a clash with the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), a splinter of the MILF, and with MILF forces. 

According to Napeñas, the 392 police commandos were divided into groups were positioned as early as 3am on Sunday. The plan was for a surgical operation of only 30 minutes. Four nipa huts in the village were the targets of the assault. 

At 4.20am, part of the assault force was able to enter the nipa hut where Marwan was sleeping, Napeñas said. “Marwan woke up, that was around 4.30am, and he managed to be the first to shoot, that’s why some of us were hit. But we returned fire and killed him outright,” he said. 

The exchange of gunfire brought Marwan’s security to action. As the policemen were about to pull out, they came under fire from all directions, Napeñas said. 

When the firing became intense, one SAF officer extracted DNA from Marwan, Napeñas said. Then the assault team decided it was best to bring Marwan’s body and shoot its way out of there, he said. 

The team got out, said Napeñas, who described the other side as BIFF and MILF forces who “came from all directions". 

At past 6am, the joint monitoring team from the MILF and the government called a ceasefire, Napeñas said, but the “MILF did not stop shooting". 

The MILF refused to heed the monitoring team’s call for a ceasefire, he said.  - The Philippine Inquirer/ANN