Omar Opik Lasal, alias Merang Abante, who carries a P2-million bounty, was nabbed while in a commuter Mitsubishi L-300 van in Barangay Kamanga at about 6:10 p.m.
"We were tracking down Al-Ghozi and Lasal in Zamboanga and we finally caught up with Lasal," said Col. Roland Rodriguez, commander of Task Force Tabak, the military unit hunting down Al-Ghozi. "We will get Al-Ghozi sooner or later."
Rodriguez said Lasal was arrested with a certain Muktar Sali, who was released yesterday morning after no evidence was found that would link him with Al-Ghozi.
"Al-Ghozi’s refuge is becoming thinner and thinner," Rodriguez said.
"We’ve zeroed in on the Baganian Peninsula in Zamboanga del Sur and on at least four coastal towns in the nearby Zamboanga-Sibugay province as probable hiding places of Al-Ghozi."
A caliber .45 pistol with two loaded magazines was seized from Lasal, he added.
Lasal, also known as Ambang Kris, was reportedly bound for Pagadian City to elude pursuing police and military forces in Dinas town, where he was said to be in hiding.
He was flown to Zamboanga City yesterday morning and presented to the media before he was turned over to the Armed Forces Southern Command (Southcom) for further interrogation.
Western Mindanao police director Chief Superintendent Reynaldo Varilla said Lasal had told him how he, Al-Ghozi and Abdulmukim Edris walked out from their Camp Crame jail cells to freedom last July 14.
"When he revealed their escape, it sounded like it was very easy and simple," he said.
But Varilla said he cannot reveal the details of the great escape as the investigation is still ongoing and Lasal has not yet talked to the team of probers.
"We would rather disclose everything upon the termination of the tactical interrogation," he said. "It would be better that the (escape) details come from (Lasal), and not from us."
Varilla said the Southcom would spearhead the interrogation of Lasal to prevent any speculations of a cover-up.
"As of last night alam ko na kung paano nangyari from the start (when they bolted their detention cells) up to the present," he said.
Varilla refused to say whether Al-Ghozi was also hiding in Barangay Kamanga, where troops had captured Lasal.
"We don’t want to speculate," he said. "The tactical interrogation is ongoing and it’s hard to comment. If ever he is here then hopefully we’ll be able to get him."
Lt. Gen. Roy Kyamko, Southcom chief, said Oplan (operation plan) "Deep South" to capture Lasal and Al-Ghozi was launched last Oct. 6, a day before an Abu Sayyaf detainee killed four policemen and tried to escape from Camp Crame.
Kyamko said Al-Ghozi has not yet slipped out from Mindanao, but he could not confirm if the Indonesian had been with Lasal in Dumalinao.
"We will be telegraphing if we will tell you and we don’t want Al-Ghozi to know that we know where he is naturally because he will be expecting for us to go to the field," he said.
Intelligence sources said Al-Ghozi had slipped back to Central Mindanao days earlier after police and troops had captured Lasal.
"The last monitoring we have (is) he is back in Lanao province," intelligence sources said.
Al-Ghozi’s "handlers" are reportedly asking for $300,000 or P16.5 million as "insurance money" before the Indonesian is turned over to the government.
A highly reliable source, who personally knows Al-Ghozi, told The STAR the fugitive terrorist is "very much alive" and being kept by a certain group in an undisclosed place in Mindanao.
"The long-extended negotiation for the turnover of Al-Ghozi to authorities was reportedly due to the fact that government representatives, led by Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. could not come up with the desired amount," the source said.
"It has been like a tug-of-war between the handlers and the negotiators. They could not agree on the amount of what they call ‘insurance money,’ that was why Al-Ghozi is still being kept."
The source said Al-Ghozi’s "handlers" do not trust the PNP and the Armed Forces in facilitating the turnover to authorities of the escaped terrorist.
"The arrangements for the eventual turnover and whatever scenario there might be, have to be ironed out... before things could be finalized," the source said.
"But apparently, there is that lack of trust on the part of the handlers with the police and the military."
Last Aug. 7, government troops captured Edris in Sultan Naga Dimaporo town, Lanao del Sur. He was later killed after he reportedly grabbed the Armalite rifle of a soldier and tried to escape while leading troops to the supposed hideout of Al-Ghozi.
The government is under pressure to recapture Al-Ghozi before the eight-hour visit of US President George W. Bush on Oct. 18.
President Arroyo said yesterday that she and other Southeast Asian leaders acknowledged at a summit in Bali, Indonesia earlier this week that there is a strong terrorist threat in the region and terrorists can strike anytime anywhere.
"We have to work together in fighting terrorism and these arrests are parts of the fruits of our working together," she told reporters in Cebu City.
Authorities believe Al-Ghozi, sentenced to 17 years in prison last year for acquiring more than a ton of explosives for use in a bombing campaign across Southeast Asia, had sought refuge with the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
But the rebel movement has denied the claim. — Edith Regalado, Christina Mendez, Jaime Laude, AF