MILF believes Al-Ghozi already in gov’t custody

CAGAYAN DE ORO — The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) claimed yesterday fugitive Indonesian bomb maker Fathur Rohman Al-Ghozi is now in government custody.

"We believe that Al Ghozi is in the hands of government authorities and producing him before the public will be timed in a situation that can serve best its purpose," MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu said.

Kabalu said government efforts to recapture Al-Ghozi in Maguindanao and Lanao del Norte was "just for show" to make it appear that the Indonesian fugitive is still at large.

With the military being discredited in public by the July 27 mutiny, Kabalu said any announcement from the military that Al-Ghozi, who has a P10 million bounty on his head, has been recaptured will be a welcome respite.

He said the military is just waiting for the right moment to present Al-Ghozi to appease critics.

At the same time, the MILF spokesman also questioned the circumstances surrounding the killing of suspected Abu Sayyaf terrorist Abdulmukim Edris.

Edris, who had a P3-million bounty for his capture, was earlier apprehended with MILF commander Mahmud Ismael while trying to slip through a military checkpoint in Sultan Naga Dimaporo, Lanao del Norte last Aug. 7.

Edris escaped with Al-Ghozi and another Abu Sayyaf suspect, Omar Opik Lasal, from their detention cell at Camp Crame last July 14.

Al-Ghozi was serving a 17-year jail term for explosives possession. He had earlier admitted to plotting attacks against Western targets in Singapore as well as helping carry out the Dec. 30 Rizal Day bombings in Metro Manila in 2000.

Even as President Arroyo ordered the Armed Forces to make a "transparent" investigation of Edris’ killing, Kabalu claimed Edris was apparently silenced to prevent him from naming officials supposedly involved in the escape.

"How can Edris and his companion, who were supposed to be handcuffed, grab the firearms of the escorting soldiers?" Kabalu asked.

The MILF noted that the intensified effort by the military to recapture Al-Ghozi in their areas could trigger fighting and threaten planned government-rebel peace talks.

The MILF earlier protested the deployment of soldiers near MILF strongholds in Maguindanao and Lanao del Norte.

Government representatives who met with Muslim guerrillas later assured that military operations were aimed at capturing Al-Ghozi and were not aimed at the MILF.

MILF chairman Ebrahim Murad said the government and the rebels have already agreed to resume the peace talks in Kuala Lumpur after the coordinating committees finished its task of monitoring the implementation of the ongoing ceasefire.

Murad revealed that among the significant subjects to be discussed in the resumption of peace talks is the ancestral domain aspect of the peace pact which both panels agreed to during their talks in Tripoli, Libya on June 22, 2001. — With Lino de la Cruz