By NORA SORIÑO
GSD-Iligan bureau chief
ILIGAN City–The government is now looking into the possibility of extraditing to the US a physician from Lanao del Sur who sent money that was allegedly used in a foiled attempt to stage a bomb attack in New York in 2016.
Armed Forces chief of staff Gen. Eduardo Año said Dr. Russell Salic was identified by US authorities as a person who allegedly funded the plot by sending $423 or approximately P21,650 via Western Union.
Dr. Salic worked at the Iligan Medical Center here and the Amai Pakpak Medical Center in strife-torn Marawi City.
Año said Salic has strongly denied any link to the 2016 bombing plot, saying he had thought that he was donating to charity and had no idea that the funds were used to buy bomb-making materials.
In April, the orthopedic doctor handed himself over to the National Bureau of Investigation here in connection with the abduction and murder of people who worked at a sawmill in Lanao del Sur.
Salic denied involvement in the kidnappings and murders, saying he was working at that time at the Iligan Medical Center.
The physician also denied relations with former Marawi mayor Pre Salic, saying that he hails from Marantao, Lanao del Sur.
Año said the government was studying the possibility of extradition even as he pointed out that Salic was facing criminal charges here, too.
The Department of Justice however is in the process of facilitating the extradition proceedings, it was learned.
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