Suspected al-Qaeda fund conduit arrested in Zambo

Police have arrested a suspected member of the Jemaah Islamiyah who allegedly helped arrange the transfer of al-Qaeda funds to finance bombings in the country, the Philippine National Police (PNP) reported yesterday.

PNP Intelligence Group director Chief Superintendent Ismael Rafanan said the suspect, Khair Maldan Mudos, has been serving as one of the al-Qaeda contacts of Abu Sayyaf chieftain Khaddafy Janjalani in the Middle East to finance the operations of the terror group.

Rafanan presented Mudos before a news conference held at the Department of Defense at Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City yesterday.

Rafanan said Mudos used his connections in the country and in the Middle East to funnel at least $89,000 to the Abu Sayyaf to buy explosives, speedboats and weapons.

While in Saudi Arabia, Mudos raised the money for the Abu Sayyaf and had "dealings with Al Haramain, a non-government organization that has been linked by intelligence agencies to terrorist activities," Defense Secretary Eduardo Ermita added.

Mudos was apprehended last week by police intelligence agents at his suspected hideout in Barangay Talon-Talon in Zamboanga City while he was reportedly "on vacation."

Police said Mudos, 40, stayed in Saudi Arabia from 1996 until last year, purportedly for an Arabic-language course, and helped seek funds from al-Qaeda for the Abu Sayyaf.

He first worked with Abu Sayyaf founder Abdurajak Janjalani who was killed in a gunfight with police in December 1998. Khaddafy Janjalani succeeded his elder brother as the Abu Sayyaf chieftain.

Following his arrest, Mudos reportedly broke down and told his interrogators that he arranged the transfer of funds to Janjalani from 2001 to last year through local bank accounts under aliases provided to him.

Rafanan said the money was used to buy M-14 rifles and a 90-mm. recoilless rifle, two speedboats and explosives for bombing missions.

In the same news conference, Ermita said Mudos broke down during interrogation and admitted funneling more than P3.5 million from al-Qaeda to the Abu Sayyaf to carry out kidnappings and bombing attacks in the country.

Among the attacks financed by this money was a bombing in Malagutay district in Zamboanga City in October 2002, which killed an American soldier training local counter-terrorist troops in the "Balikatan ’02" military exercises.

Mudos also financed other bombing attacks that same month that hit two department stores in the city, which killed seven people, and a bus terminal in Kidapawan City in Cotabato, killing seven.

Ermita added Mudos also provided the funds to buy a speedboat and weapons for the Abu Sayyaf and delivered uniforms and equipment used in the kidnapping of 21 foreign and local tourists and hotel staff from the Malaysian resort island of Sipadan in 2000.

With P100,000 allocation per operation, Abu Sayyaf bandits conducted three operations in Metro Manila. One of the bombing missions succeeded in blasting a passenger bus in Balintawak, Quezon City on Oct. 18, 2002. Two bus passengers were killed in the bombing attack.

Mudos reportedly transferred the money at Al Raji Bank and Arab National Bank in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to Janjalani via commercial banks in Cotabato City, Basilan, Zamboanga City and Jolo, Sulu.

"Our intelligence build-up on Mudos gave strong indications that the latter was (the) direct intermediary of al-Qaeda funds channeled into the country and used by the Janjalani group in bombing and other terrorist activities," Ermita said.

Another Filipino militant raised money among Filipino workers in Saudi Arabia that was used to buy telescopes and a global positioning system (GPS) device used in the May 2001 abduction of 20 people from a plush resort in Palawan, Mudos reportedly confessed.

Although he did not identify his contact, Mudos admitted using the funds from al-Qaeda to buy 300 sets of desert-toned camouflage uniforms, two sets of telescope, a GPS device and weapons they used in the Palawan kidnapping.

Aside from buying these items, Mudos said he also purchased a speedboat worth P500,000, spent another P900,000 for the purchase of the M-14 rifles and P300,000 for the 90-mm. recoilless rifle used in Palawan.

Three of those abducted in Palawan were Americans. One of them, Guillermo Sobero, was beheaded. In June 2002, the military rescued missionary Gracia Burnham of Wichita, Kansas, but her husband, Martin, and another hostage, Filipina nurse Edibora Yap, were killed in the crossfire.

Last month, authorities arrested a suspected Muslim militant identified as Jordan Abdullah, and accused him of helping an Indonesian militant hide terror funds, some from al-Qaeda, in his bank accounts. The money allegedly was used for terror attacks.

Rafanan said they are now focusing their investigations on the bank accounts provided by Janjalani to Mudos. He did not reveal the account names to avoid jeopardizing follow-up operations.

Rafanan added they are looking for a link between Mudos and Jordan Mamso Abdullah, 46, a Muslim currency trader in Cotabato City who was arrested last month after he was accused of providing financial support to the Abu Sayyaf.

Police said Abdullah’s arrest last April 3 apparently disrupted the flow of al-Qaeda money and other planned fund transfers in the country and the rest of Southeast Asian.

Sources from the intelligence community said Osama bin Laden, the al-Qaeda chieftain, had channeled his financial support to local extremists in the Philippines through a militant identified as Mohammad Khalifa in the early 1990s.

Mudos, a Filipino, is also a known associate of Khalifa, brother-in-law of Bin Laden.

Khalifa, who remains at large, stayed in the country for several years until 1994.

While in the country, Khalifa established Islamic non-government organizations and business networks, in the guise of extending help to Muslim people to propagate the Islamic faith.

Khalifa reportedly channeled a large chunk of funds for the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Abu Sayyaf. — AP, AFP