RP police arrests JI terror suspects

RP police arrests JI terror suspects

Agencies, Manila

Police said on Thursday they thwarted planned attacks on an
airport, malls, a church and U.S. troops with the arrests of
three Jamaah Islamiyah members who allegedly came to the
Philippines to train Muslim militants to make bombs.

The two Indonesians and a Malaysian were arrested in southern
Zamboanga city in December along with a Filipino member of the
Abu Sayyaf Muslim extremist group with bomb-making manuals, bomb
parts and funds to be used for attacks, officials said.

They said they picked up Indonesians Mohammed Yusop Karim Faiz
and Mohammad Nasir Hamid and Malaysian Mohammed Ted Yolanda on
Dec. 14 as they disembarked from ferries at the southern port of
Zamboanga from the Indonesian island of Sulawesi and from
Sandakan in Malaysia.

Also arrested with the foreigners was an alleged member of the
Filipino Muslim militant group Abu Sayyaf.

"We were able to foil an attempt to bring into the country
terrorists with firearms, with training materials, with
explosives, before they can do their thing," Interior Secretary
Angelo Reyes told reporters as the men were presented to media.
One of them shouted "Allahu Akbar!" - or "God is great."

The men allegedly belonged to a previously unknown Jamaah
Islamiyah terror cell in the country. The arrests were not
immediately announced to allow authorities to identify six of
their local comrades, one of whom has been arrested, said Chief
Supt. Ismael Rafanan, head of the police Intelligence Group.

Police intelligence officials said the targets included a
Roman Catholic church and the airport in the bustling port city
of Davao, unspecified malls in Manila and U.S. soldiers
participating in joint training with the Philippine military.

Authorities recovered bomb components, about US$7,000 and at
least two pistols from the four, who were located in part due to
intelligence provided by Indonesia and Malaysia. While under
surveillance, they were monitored meeting some Abu Sayyaf
members, officials said.

The money was intended to finance the attacks and training to
make explosives, including car bombs to be organized by Jamaah
Islamiyah in the southern region of Mindanao, officials said.

The arrests are an indication of continuing collusion between
foreign militants and local Muslim radicals. They also rekindled
concerns over the government's limitations in dealing with
terrorism and the need for the public to help guard against
attacks.

"We couldn't place an intelligence operative in every nook and
corner of the country," Rafanan said.

The four have been charged with illegal possession of
explosives and firearms. The foreigners also violated immigration
laws, they said.

Rafanan said investigators were trying to verify whether the
four have links with suspected Muslim militants responsible for
three almost-simultaneous bombings that killed eight people in
Manila, General Santos and Davao last week.

Jamaah Islamiyah is blamed for several deadly attacks in
Southeast Asia, including bombings on Indonesia's Bali island in
2002 that killed 202 people. Authorities also blame the group for
a series of bomb attacks in Manila in December 2000 that left 22
people dead.

Philippine security officials say Jamaah Islamiyah has worked
with members of Abu Sayyaf, a small but brutal al-Qaeda-linked
group on a U.S. list of terror organizations, and the Moro
Islamic Liberation Front, a larger group which has been fighting
for a separate Muslim homeland in the southern Philippines.

* Photo on Page 11