PNP confirms ‘holdings’ on Lebanese-Aussie ‘terrorist’

Police intelligence officials confirmed yesterday that they do have "holdings" against a Lebanon-born man suspected of being al-Qaeda’s agent in Australia, Philippine National Police (PNP) Intelligence Group director Chief Superintendent Jesus Versoza said yesterday.

Versoza said PNP intelligence officers will coordinate with the Australian embassy to determine if the Lebanese-Australian, identified as Bilal Khazal, may be involved in terrorist operations in the Philippines and other Southeast Asian countries.

"We want to determine if the Bilal on their watchlist is the same person who is also on our list," Versoza said after receiving reports that the Australian foreign office had confiscated Khazal’s passport.

Other intelligence sources said they have also received information that the al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah terror group also has plans to attack US interests in the Philippines and Venezuela.

The intelligence sources said they are not discounting the possibility that Filipinos may be recruited for terror attacks in Latin America because Filipinos look like some Latinos.

In Sydney, the Australian Broadcasting Corp. (ABC) reported on Monday that Bilal was named by Australian and US security agencies as having trained with al-Qaeda in Afghanistan in 1998.

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said Khazal’s passport had been revoked because he was deemed a threat to Australia’s security, but said he had filed an appeal with the government’s Administrative Appeals Tribunal.

"We have been concerned about him and we have confiscated his passport," Downer told ABC radio.

"He’s not able to travel although that decision is now before the AAT so we’ll have to wait and see what happens, I don’t want to say too much more about that.

"I will defend my decision and my decision has been to revoke his passport because of security concerns in relation to him."

Downer said it was a concern Khazal had been a baggage handler but said measures announced by the government in its recent budget statement would ensure tighter security at airports and a better screening process of potential airport employees.

Asked if the Islamic Youth Movement was a threat, Downer said the government was concerned about a large number of people in organizations that might have some links to al-Qaeda or the regional Jemaah Islamiyah network, blamed for last October’s bombings on the resort island of Bali, Indonesia.

"The Australian authorities maintain constant vigilance in terms of these people and these organizations," Downer said.

But people could not be arrested unless they had broken the law, he said, adding: "It’s their actions, of course, that we’d be concerned about." — With AFP