COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Authorities arrested here Wednesday night a suspected member of the Ansar Al-Khilafa, which has links with the Maute terror group and the Abu Sayyaf.

Abdul Rafi Esmael was initially apprehended for violating the city’s evening curfew but eventually confessed to his having been recruited by the Ansar Al-Khilafa more than two years ago.

He also admitted having stayed in the group’s camp in Palimbang town in Sultan Kudarat, about 200 kilometers from Cotabato City.

The camp, where occupants hoisted the flag of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, was taken over by the Philippine Marine Corps in late 2015 following an encounter that resulted in the deaths of seven militants.

The Ansar Al-Khilafa was founded by Maguindanaoan Mohammad Jaafar Maguid three years ago.

The group lost no fewer than a dozen senior members in encounters with personnel of the Police Regional Office-12 in the provinces of South Cotabato and Sarangani in the past six months.

“I was recruited but I eventually left the group,” Esmael told reporters in Filipino.

Esmael is now in a police detention facility in the city. Police and Army intelligence agents are now verifying his background.

Esmael was quick to refute insinuations he is on a mission in the city.

Police and military personnel patrolling the streets here at night have been enforcing a city regulation requiring local residents to bring with them valid identification cards when out at night.

Authorities have also imposed a curfew from 10:30 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. since the start of the hostilities in Marawi City.

The city government, the police and the Army-led Joint Task Force Kutawato have also been enforcing a “no ID, no entry” policy on outsiders coming in.

Police were allegedly tipped off to Esmael's presence in the city by barangay folk.