Arroyo says she won't accept failure in hunt for Al-Ghozi
Arroyo says she won't accept failure in hunt for Al-Ghozi
Jim Gomez, Associated Press, Manila
Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said on Tuesday she
would not accept failure in a massive hunt for a suspected Jamaah
Islamiyah (JI) bomber who escaped from jail.
Two slum areas were raided by police in Manila on Tuesday, but
no trace was found of Indonesian Fathur Rohman Al-Ghozi and two
Filipino members of the brutal Abu Sayyaf Moro extremist group,
police said.
The three escaped July 14 from the high-security detention
center of the Intelligence Group in the national police
headquarters in a major embarrassment for Arroyo and her high-
profile, U.S.-backed war on terror, in amid suspicions of police
collusion.
JI is a Southeast Asian group believed linked to al-Qaeda. Al-
Ghozi has confessed to involvement in deadly bombings that killed
22 people in Manila in 2000 and was to have been arraigned on
Monday, but the proceeding was reset for Aug. 20.
Arroyo called the escapes a national security concern, and
said if there was police collusion, she wanted everyone involved
to be prosecuted and jailed.
"A dead end in this investigation, just as a dead end in the
hunt for Al-Ghozi, is not acceptable," Arroyo said in a
statement. "We must leave no stone unturned because this is a
primary test case for the rule of law and the integrity of the
police."
Police have launched one of the biggest manhunts in recent
memory, with 63 special tracker teams, backed by over 5,000
troops, 300,000 licensed security guards and officers from some
42,000 villages nationwide. Neighboring Indonesia and Malaysia
also are on the lookout for Al-Ghozi.
Early Tuesday, about 100 police raided a slum community in
Manila's Tondo district after a tip that the two suspected Abu
Sayyaf escapees were seen there, but found nothing. A man and a
woman were brought in for questioning.
Police were also searching a Muslim community in the capital.
A number of southern Philippines provinces were being checked.
Police officials said they suspect Al-Ghozi is still in the
country.
On Tuesday, police officials said that 90 intelligence agents
have been removed from their posts in a reshuffle set off by the
escapes.
The move, affecting 17 officers and 73 men from the national
police's powerful Intelligence Group, is the most serious fallout
so far from the embarrassing July 14 escape of Al-Ghozi and two
suspected Filipino terrorists.
National police Gen. Hermogenes Ebdane offered to resign last
week, but Arroyo instead asked him to lead the massive manhunt.
Chief Supt. Arturo Lomibao, police director for intelligence,
said the removal of the intelligence agents was part of efforts
to reform the police's intelligence arm following the escapes
from a high-security detention center in police headquarters.
The dismissed agents did not have enough intelligence work
training and would be transferred to other police units, Lomibao
told The Associated Press by telephone.
Lomibao said an intelligence officer who headed a unit in
charge of coordinating with foreign intelligence agencies had
also been relieved and restricted to police camp for
investigation. There were allegations that the officer was seen
in or near the Intelligence Group building when the escapes took
place, Lomibao said.
Four policemen in charge of guarding the escapees earlier were
relieved of their posts and charged with negligence.