Explosives charges on Al-Ghozi dropped

Explosives charges on Al-Ghozi dropped

Oliver Teves, Associated Press, Manila

Philippine Department of Justice prosecutors have dismissed
charges of illegal possession of explosives against an Indonesian
man linked to the al-Qaida terror network because police failed
to present the evidence, according to documents obtained Tuesday.

However, they said they will pursue a relatively minor charge
of illegally obtaining a Philippine passport against Fathur
Rohman Al-Ghozi, whose arrest in Manila last month led
authorities to a ton of explosives buried behind a house he had
built in southern General Santos City. Police also seized 17 M-16
assault rifles.

"The law enforcement authorities merely presented photographs
of the alleged explosive components and failed to present the
physical evidence," a three-page resolution dismissing the
explosives charges said.

The prosecutors said, however, they found that Al-Ghozi
violated Philippine law by getting a passport by falsely claiming
to be a Filipino.

National Police spokesman Chief Superintendent Cresencio
Maralit said police would "most likely" ask prosecutors to
reconsider their decision, saying it would have been too risky to
bring the explosives to the Justice Department.

"They are very unstable substances. It would have been very
dangerous to present them physically," Maralit said, adding that
police usually present pictures and sworn statements by officers
involved in the seizure of explosives as evidence.

Earlier this month, Al-Ghozi said in affidavits presented by
police to prosecutors that he obtained funds to finance bombings
that killed 22 people in Manila a year ago from the alleged
leader of a Muslim extremist group in Malaysia.

Al-Ghozi, 31, also said he joined the Jemaah Islamiyah, a cell
with suspected links to the al-Qaida terror network, while he was
a student in Lahore, Pakistan, in 1990-95.

He said he was an "errand boy, messenger or liaison officer"
for the group, the affidavits said, and later was told to go to
Malaysia to meet the local leader of the group, Fais Bin Abu
Bakar Bafana.

Fais allegedly told him to visit the Philippines to "study the
place and get contacts."

Al-Ghozi said one of his "contacts," identified only as
Muklis, brought him to Camp Abubakar, headquarters of the
separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front, where he spent a month
in 1996 studying the Filipino language and weapons training.

Al-Ghozi said Muklis told him about a "program that is part of
jihad" but asked his help to raise funds. He passed on the
request to Fais, who agreed to send money that eventually was
used to buy about 70 kilograms (154 pounds) of explosives.

He said he learned that the explosives were used in a series
of bombings in Manila on Dec. 30, 2000, when he received a text
message on his cellphone from Muklis after the attacks: "This is
the program we were talking about."

Al-Ghozi also said the explosives that were unearthed were
bought on Fais' orders "to be used in our struggle against the
Singaporean government."

Thirteen militants linked to a bomb plot who were in Singapore
have identified Al-Ghozi as one of the group's ringleaders.