NBI uncovers more questions on suspected Pinay terrorist

After a whirlwind courtship in an Internet chatroom and a civil rights wedding held shortly after, 41-year-old Katrina Sanchez and her 42-year-old Canadian husband Roy Reiderer looked forward to settling down in married bliss.

But on the day they left Manila for Vancouver to begin their married life, Sanchez was accosted by immigration agents at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport on suspicion that she was a terrorist.

What could have been a happy ending to a love affair that bloomed in cyberspace has turned into a nightmare.

Grilled by local immigration agents on her alleged links to Agus Dwikarna, the jailed suspected leader of the Jemaah Islamiyah, al-Qaeda’s terror link in Southeast Asia, Sanchez was allowed to leave the country with the imprimatur of the Canadian embassy here.

But her troubles had only started. Upon disembarking in Vancouver the following day, two Canadian immigration agents held the couple for questioning.

Fake identification cards, a copy of Dwikarna’s unsigned affidavit, and other documents linking her to the terrorist group were reportedly found in her luggage and confiscated.

These documents allegedly include a Philippine National Police (PNP)-issued card under the name of "Maj. Trina Azizah Datukhan," a media card with the name "Khartina D. K. Sanchez," and a third card which identified her as the wife of John Henderson, a former Australian boyfriend who is a retired military colonel.

Other documents reportedly taken from her were: "top secret reports," arrest report, and text message conversations between Dwikarna and his co-accused.

Sanchez was detained by the Canadian Immigration Center (CIC) for three weeks until she volunteered to return home to clear her name.

In an interview with The STAR, she said that in her excitement over the new marriage and the prospect of a new life, she forgot that she had in her possession "papers" that needed to be turned over to the proper authorities.

She was referring to documents related to her job as an interpreter for the Bureau of Immigration and the PNP, where she said she dealt with cases of arrested Indonesian nationals, including Dwikarna.

"I have had enough disappointments in my life. I deserve a break. I want this one (her marriage to Reiderer) to work out," she said.

She disclosed that her marriage to Reiderer was preceded by two heartaches — a failed first marriage and a violent breakup with Henderson, to whom she was already engaged.

Chief Superintendent Jaime Caringal, director of the PNP Intelligence Group, and officials of PNP Task Force Sanlahi, the government’s anti-terrorism task force, found not a single trace to link Sanchez to any terrorist organization, local or foreign.

"There is no link, except that she was working as an interpreter of the BI for arrested Indonesian and Malaysian nationals," Caringal said.

But authorities were puzzled by Sanchez’s identity as her records from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) listed her name as "Khartina Datukhan" and "Khartina Azir," born Feb. 14, 1982.

NBI sources however gathered that she was born on Feb. 14, 1962 in Maragasa, Imus, Cavite. Her family migrated to Sabah, Malaysia when she was three years old.

Sources said she returned to the Philippines when she was 20 and worked for a chemical company in Makati City. She later married a certain Ricardo Sanchez and they lived in Nagtahan, Manila.

However, the couple separated in 1997 after 20 years of marriage.

"It was at that time she worked as an interpreter with the PNP for Dwikarna, because she speaks the Malaysian language Bahasa," said the source.

The PNP, though, denied hiring her as an interpreter for any case. But Sanchez said that she obtained the identification card from a certain Major Winnie Quidato.

According to Ricardo Diaz, chief of the National Bureau of Investigation-International Police (NBI-Interpol), Sanchez was also involved in the boiler-room operations in Manila two years ago. This scam involved the selling of non-existent stocks to foreign countries by telephone, supposedly in exchange for bigger returns.

Diaz, whose unit investigated several boiler-room operations in the past, said that Sanchez’s involvement in the illegal operations was tipped off by her Australian boyfriend in a fit of jealousy.

When interviewed by The STAR, Sanchez and Reiderer said they are still looking forward to a happy ending of their love story, hoping that love will in the end conquer all.