Courier in V-Day bombing arrested

One of the remaining suspects in the bloody Valentine’s Day bombings in Makati City earlier this year was arrested by intelligence agents at a Muslim village in Taguig City, a ranking official of the Anti-Terrorism Task Force (ATTF) disclosed yesterday.

The ATTF official, however, refused to identify the terrorist who was arrested in a sting operation last Tuesday.

He said the arrested terrorist is still undergoing tactical interrogation on the possible whereabouts of other terrorists and their plans in Metro Manila.

"He was arrested in Maharlika Village. He is still undergoing debriefing," the official said.

He described the suspect as an active member of the Rajah Sulaiman Movement (RSM), a group of Islam converts who have espoused holy war against Christians.

RSM founder and leader Hilarion Rosario Santos III was arrested in Zamboanga City last October and charged with complicity in the bombing of a passenger bus in Makati City last Feb. 14 in which four people were killed and several others wounded.

Security officials stressed Santos has been threatening to launch bombing attacks in Metro Manila even while in detention.

Santos founded the RSM, a group of former Christians who have converted to Islam. The group is believed to have forged an alliance with the Abu Sayyaf and the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), intelligence officials said.

The military has linked the RSM and the Abu Sayyaf to the SuperFerry 14 firebombing attack last year that killed more than a hundred people, and a string of bombings on Feb. 14 this year that killed at least seven people and injured more than 60 in Makati City and Davao and General Santos cities in Mindanao.

The official said the arrested suspect was identified as the one who delivered the bomb to Gamal Baharan, Angelo Trinidad and Indonesian JI militant Rohmat Abdurrohim.

The three were sentenced to death by the Makati City regional trial court last Oct. 28 for multiple murder and multiple frustrated murder for their part in the Valentine’s Day bombings.

One of the suspects in the bombings, Gappal Bannah Asali, turned state witness, leading to the conviction of the other three.

Sources said the suspect came face to face with Trinidad last Tuesday following his arrest. The two even embraced each other, bolstering suspicions that the suspect is among the group.

"The meeting further bolstered earlier reports that he (the suspect) has been acting as an explosive courier of their group," the official said.

The official added the ATTF agents were able to establish that the suspect received the bomb from Asali and delivered it to Baharan and his group to carry out the Valentine’s Day attack.

Asali had confessed to being a member of the Abu Sayyaf’s Special Operations Group operating in Metro Manila.

He claimed his only part in the Feb. 14 bombing was securing the bombs.

Security officials said the Abu Sayyaf received $18,500 from the JI to finance their explosives training.

Baharan himself confessed during interrogation that he enrolled in scuba diving lessons somewhere in Palawan with no less than Abu Sayyaf chieftain Khadaffy Janjalani ordering him to prepare for underwater bombing operations.