Al-Qaeda cells in RP identified

Government agents are hot on the tracks of more than a dozen foreigners, mostly from Arab countries, who are believed to be operatives of an al-Qaeda terror cell called Mastiqi 3, intelligence sources told The STAR yesterday.

Highly placed sources in the intelligence community said the foreigners, believed to be Palestinians and nationals of Jordan, Sudan and Yemen, may be responsible for the recent spate of bombings in Mindanao.

The sources said Mastiqi is under the overall control of Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda terror network and is divided into four groups of terrorists, dubbed simply Mastiqi 1, 2, 3 and 4. Some of the members reportedly live in Muslim communities in Australia.

These "sleeper operatives" reportedly have specific tasks and work independently of each other to accomplish missions handed down to them by their al-Qaeda handlers.

The sources, however, refused to say if nine suspected terrorists who are under detention are part of the Mastiqi 3 cell.

The latest arrest was made on Monday when authorities apprehended Jordanian businessman Mohammad Amin Al-Ghaffari, who is believed to have financed "suspicious" activities in Luzon and Mindanao, on immigration charges.

Al-Ghaffari, who is facing deportation to Amman, Jordan, was arrested weeks after government agents nabbed Indonesian Uskar Makawata and three other Indons from Sulawesi in General Santos City.

Makawata is believed to have been among the key planners of the April 24 bombing of the Fitmart shopping mall in General Santos City which resulted in the death of 15 people and wounding of 60 others.

Authorities also arrested in Balanga City in Bataan last December Jordanian Hadi Yousef Al-Ghoul who was found with hundreds of sticks of dynamite and bomb-making gadgets. He is under detention pending his trial for illegal possession of explosives.

Also under detention is Agus Dwikarna, another Indonesian who is a member of an Indonesian Islamist group that is closely linked with the Jemaah Islamiyah, al-Qaeda’s arm in Southeast Asia.

Dwikarna was convicted on July 12 by a Pasay City court of illegal possession of explosives and was meted a maximum sentence of 17 years in prison.

Another Indonesian, Fathur Rohman Al-Ghozi, was also arrested in January and eventually convicted of illegal possession of a ton of explosives. He is suspected of involvement in the December 2000 Rizal Day bombings which killed 21 and wounded about a hundred others.

Also detained at Cramp Crame are Hussan Al-Addeen Hambali, Mohammad Sabri Selah and Ahmad Abdul bin Masria but the sources declined to elaborate on their cases.

While Al-Ghozi, Dwikarna and Makawata are Indonesians, the rest hail from Middle Eastern countries. – With Roel Pareño, Paolo Romero, Benjie Villa, Christina Mendez, Marichu Villanueva