Senior Superintendent Francisco Cristobal, Zamboanga City police chief, withheld the identities of the respondents: the captain of the M/V Katrina 3 where the chemicals were seized, two policemen detailed at the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao who were assigned as security personnel on the ferry, and four other crewmen of the boat.
Cristobal said the respondents were taken into custody and were being interrogated at the Zamboanga City police headquarters.
He said investigators were studying if charges would also be filed against the owner of the M/V Katrina 3 that sailed from Sulu and was transporting 20 sacks of ammonium nitrate hidden in 10 cigarette boxes labeled as daing or dried fish.
Four more sacks were recovered near the Zamboanga City wharf where the ferry boat docked.
Ammonium nitrate is a highly volatile chemical compound commonly used as fertilizer. It is also a main ingredient used by Abu Sayyaf terrorists to produce bombs.
Cristobal said the filing of smuggling charges against the suspects stemmed from the misdeclaration of the ammonium nitrate as dried fish.
"The shipment of the chemicals was considered as smuggling since there were no pertinent documents, besides the item is also a contraband," Cristobal added.
He said the police have to file the initial criminal charges to give probers the legal authority to continue the investigation of the suspects to extract vital information from them.
"Sa ngayon hindi pa natin alam kung bakit galing sa Sulu at hindi galing sa Zamboanga ang mga explosive ingredients na iyan (For now, we don’t know why the explosive ingredients came from Sulu and not from Zamboanga)," he said.
He said the police are still investigating the origin of the chemicals and the final destination of the smuggled items.
"All that we know for now is that these terrorists are plotting something but this plot could have diminished with the seizure of these explosive ingredients," he said.
Col. Antonio Mark Supnet, chief of the Anti-terror Task Force Zamboanga, said Task Force Daungan was created yesterday to further secure the Zamboanga City wharf and prevent smugglers and terrorists from using the port.
He said the task force includes the Philippine Ports Authority, Coast Guard, police and the military.
Police and military intelligence units have received reports that Abu Sayyaf guerrillas allegedly plan to conduct terrorist attacks to divert government troops from ongoing operations against the terrorists in Sulu.
Intelligence reports also indicated that the Abu Sayyaf, the Indonesia-based Jemaah Islamiyah, the Rajah Solaiman Movement, and renegade members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) have jointly trained for the planned terrorist attacks.
"We have received information that the chemicals will be used by the Abu Sayyaf for their terrorist attacks," said Chief Inspector Frank Clavencillas, Zamboanga City port police chief.
He said there had been fears that the Abu Sayyaf could stage bombings on Oct. 12, when the largely Catholic enclave of Zamboanga is to mark an annual festival.
The military had intensified offensive operations since August at the territory of the Abu Sayyaf in Sulu to get the leader of the bandits Khaddafy Janjalani as well as Indonesian bomb experts Dulmatin, who goes by one name, and Umar Patek, both members of the Jemaah Islamiyah.
The military has doubled its alert following intelligence reports and documents seized from the terrorists that indicated bombings would be conducted in Zamboanga to divert the military’s concentration from Sulu.
He did not discount the possibility that the suspects were able to smuggle in several sacks of chemicals, prompting the soldiers to heighten the alert around the port.
Armed Forces chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon Jr. said the shipment was unescorted because nobody laid claim to it. It was found to be mixed with sacks of sugar from Jolo.
"There was an effort to conceal the shipment. Shipments weighing one ton or more should have been covered with corresponding permits," Esperon said.
"Nothing is conclusive yet, but the volume is too alarming just to be abandoned. It is still under investigation," he said, adding that the military was looking into the possibility that the chemical shipment was to be used for bombings in Metro Manila.
"That’s why we have ordered an investigation, which is now being conducted by Navy intelligence, the Coast Guard, and the Military Intelligence Group. They are always on the lookout, but we have no suspects yet," Esperon added.