Indonesian nabbed in Philippines

Indonesian nabbed in Philippines

Agence France-Presse, Manila

Philippine authorities have uncovered a huge cache of
explosives meant for attacks on Southeast Asian countries thanks
to the arrest of an Indonesian man, the military said Friday.

Fathur Rohman al-Ghozi, who allegedly has links with Muslim
militants based in the Philippines, told police of the cache
after his arrest Tuesday.

Following his tip-off, police and troops Thursday raided a
suspected terrorist base in the southern city of General Santos
and found 1,000 kilograms (2,200 pounds) of TNT, 300 detonators
and rolls of detonating cord, as well as some 17 M-16 automatic
rifles.

"During interrogation, he admitted that he was an Indonesian
who temporarily stays here in the Philippines to procure
explosives," army spokesman Lt. Col. Jose Mabanta said.

Al-Ghozi, alias Abu Saad, is an alleged member of the Islamic
Jemaah Islamiyah group, the police and army intelligence said in
a joint statement.

He was "involved in the different bombings in the Philippines,
including the Dec. 30, 2000 incident," when five bomb attacks
around Manila left 14 people dead and about 100 wounded.

Al-Ghozi told police he had bought explosives from a terrorist
cell in the south which were to have been delivered for terrorist
attacks in other Southeast Asian countries.

Police said investigators were still determining his possible
links to the al-Qaeda network of Saudi-born militant Osama bin
Laden, the alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11 terror attacks in
the United States.