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.