GenSan bomber arrested

Combined military-police intelligence agents captured in Cotabato City yesterday a key suspect in last month’s bombing of a shopping mall in General Santos City that left at least 15 people dead and some 50 others wounded, reports said.

But local police authorities refused to confirm the report, saying it was up to Armed Forces chief Gen. Diomedio Villanueva to make the announcement.

Abu Muslim Al-Ghazie, self-styled spokesman for the Abu Sayyaf terrorist group who has claimed responsibility for the April 21 bomb attack at the Filmart shopping mall in General Santos, and his three henchmen were reportedly caught while withdrawing money from a local bank.

The names of his three followers were not revealed pending completion of tactical interrogation.

Intelligence agents of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division who helped set up the dragnet refused to give details of the arrest.

Lt. Gen. Roy Cimatu, commander of the Armed Forces’ Southern Command based in Zamboanga City, confirmed the arrest, hinting that the intelligence agents were led to Al-Ghazie’s trail by the suspect’s own cellular phone which he used to call up a local radio station to own up to the bombing.

"We can’t reveal at the moment all the details as he is still undergoing tight tactical interrogation," Cimatu said.

Local authorities believed that more members of Al-Ghazie’s gang were holed up in their hideouts in Cotabato City, as well as in the cities of Zamboanga and General Santos.

An intelligence source, who asked not to be identified, said Al-Ghazie’s real name is JR Jikiron and has strong links with the Abu Sayyaf hierarchy.

Meanwhile, police said six suspected terrorists arrested last week during a raid on an Islamic school in Anda, Pangasinan have admitted they were training Muslim recruits in terrorist activities.

In a report to Camp Crame, Ilocos Region police director Chief Superintendent Arturo Lomibao said the suspects have confessed that the Madrasah (Islamic school) in Anda was being used as training camp for terrorism.

The Islamic Studies, Call and Guidance-Philippines (ISCAG) denied, however, allegations that the school has links to the alleged local terrorist group called "Jeemah Islamiya" based in Anda.

The six suspects reportedly revealed during interrogation that they were developing the 18-hectare property in Anda into a training camp for their organization.

The suspects, who were apprehended by elements of police’s anti-terrorism Task Force Sanlahi, were identified as Tyrone Santos alias Dawud Muslim who owned the property, Rosendo Dellosa alias Habil Hamad, Pio de Vera alias Esmael de Vera, Angelo Trinidad alias Ahis, Allan Borladan alias Abdul Hakim and Arevalo Egil.

Subsequent raids staged last Saturday in San Clemente town in Tarlac resulted in the arrest of Feliciano de los Reyes, 18, alias Abubakar, a native of Lamitan town in Basilan, and the seizure of an M16 Armalite rifle, a Taurus 9 mm. pistol, a 12-gauge shotgun, two fragmentation grenades and three claymore mines.

Confiscated earlier from the same camp were several high-powered firearms and ammunition, transmitter radios and documents marked Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and Darul Inam Military Academy.

The camp was discovered following the capture of an alleged member of the group, Omar Mayuno, 20, a native of Ipil town in Zamboanga del Sur. Mayuno was caught on May 1 during a shootout in Tarlac City.

Another suspect, Khalid Amir Trinidad, was killed in the incident, while five others escaped.

Police swooped down last week on the hideout of Abdurakman "Abdul" Quirante in a remote village of San Clemente town in Tarlac. Quirante is the alleged leader of the group called Haraka (Movement).

Mayuno reportedly revealed that Quirante has ordered them to commandeer tricycles in Tarlac City to be used in a bombing run against local commercial establishments and other public places amid the Labor Day celebration.

Mayuno also tagged a Saudi national identified as Sheik Hamod, based in Barangay Mal-ong in the island-town of Anda.

Apart from its links with the MILF, the Haraka is also believed to have strong connections with the al-Qaeda network of Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden.

Central Luzon police director Chief Superintendent Reynaldo Berroya said Luzon-based terror groups like Haraka operate under the wing of Jeemah Islamiya (JI) led by radical Indonesian Muslim cleric Riduan Isamuddi, 36, alias Alghosi Fais and Hambali.

Berroya said JI seeks to establish an Islamic "superstate" in Southeast Asia.

In a statement, ISCAG operations manager Jamil Almarez asserted that their organization is a "legitimate, non-stock, non-profit institution organized more than 10 years ago."

He said ISCAG is mainly committed to giving information about Islam through lectures, symposia and reading materials.

Boy spills beans on Haraka’s terror plot

A 13-year-old boy found by the raiders at the training camp said Quirante adopted him after befriending his parents.

The boy, a native of Capas, Tarlac, said Quirante brought him to the Islamic school in Anda where he was taught the Arabic language and introduced him to Islam.

He also said during his father’s visit to the camp, he overheard him talking to Quirante about a plot to commander tricycles and sow terror in Tarlac City.

He also told police investigators that Quirante briefed a group of men on how they would launch kidnap-for-ransom activities in the province.

Meanwhile, an Indonesian national pleaded not guilty to charges of illegal possession of explosives during his arraignment yesterday by a Pasay City Regional Trial Court (RTC).

Agus Dwikarna appeared before the court dressed in traditional Indonesian costume and guarded by two members of the Philippine National Police’s Special Action Force.

An interpreter from the Indonesian embassy read the charges.

Dwikarna’s two alleged accomplices — Abdul Jamal Balras and Tamsil Linrung — were freed earlier for lack of evidence.

The three Indonesians, who claimed to be businessmen, were about to leave for Bangkok, Thailand last March 13 enroute to Frankfurt, Germany when they were intercepted at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport after explosive materials were detected in their luggage.

Balras claimed the prohibited items were planted in his luggage by the arresting officers, while Linrung alleged he was being framed up to discredit his former boss, Indonesian presidential candidate Amien Rais. — With Roel Pareño, Christina Mendez, Nikko Dizon, Benjie Villa