Manila: A suspected terrorist was arrested in Quezon City after neighbours complained that he was brandishing a gun in public and threatening people.

Camilo Cascolan, Regional Director of the National Capital Region Police Office, said Unday Macadato was arrested by authorities on Monday after they received a text complaint from an anonymous source that the suspect was displaying a firearm in public and threatening bystanders and his neighbours in Felix Manalo Street in Quezon City’s Cubao district.

Police moved to arrest Macadato for illegal possession of firearm but as it turned out during investigation that the suspect was also listed on the wanted roster for terrorism.

“He was an alleged Maute member and was listed in the Martial Law Instruction No. 1,” Cascolan said as he referred to orders issued by President Rodrigo Duterte for the arrest of members of the group in May last year in response to the outbreak of violence in Marawi City.

Cascolan said Macadato would not have been arrested had it not been for the public’s cooperation.

“Immediate reporting of significant information, concerns, complaints to the police and the quick and appropriate response of the police will eventually yield positive results,” he said.

The Maute Group, led by the late Islamic radical brothers Abdullah and Omahkhayyam Maute, together with Isnilon Hapilon of the Abu Sayyaf, incited an uprising in the majority Moro city of Marawi last May 23, 2017.

The conflict in Marawi City has caused much suffering for the residents and killed at least four dozen civilians while a large numbers of the people affected remain housed in makeshift shelters inside the city and in neighbouring Iligan City.

The Maute brothers, Hapilon, as well as several hundred local and foreign Daesh-inspired terrorists were neutralised five months after the uprising but the threat from extremists elements in the Philippines remain.

In February this year, the Maute Group, had been regarded by the US Department of State as designated as a “Specially Designated Global Terrorists” (SDGTs).

According to the US Bureau of Counterterrorism, the SDGT reference means that it would be unlawful for groups or individuals to provide “material support or resources” to the Maute.

Money or property controlled by the group in the US can be confiscated by the US government.