The suspects, Alfonso Espinosa alias Fons, Paterno Degoma Jr., and Joseph Boquecosa, an electrician from Baguio City, admitted helping the group’s leader, Nguyen Vinh Tan in his activities to overthrow communist leaders in Vietnam. Tan is also known as Vo Van Duc and Victor.
Justice Secretary Hernando Perez said Espinosa, Degoma and Boquecosa will be utilized as prosecution witnesses against Tan and his group. They were put under the Philippine government’s Witness Protection Program (WPP).
The suspects were presented to the media by Perez yesterday. Assisting him were Police Deputy Director Generals Hermogenes Ebdane Jr., and Edgar Galvante, the deputy chief for administration and National Capital Regional Police Office (NCRPO) chief, respectively.
Tan and another Vietnamese Nguyen Huu Chanh and a Japanese national were arrested recently by joint NCRPO, Intelligence Group and Immigration agents in San Juan. They yielded a cache of explosives and various bomb components.
The police said Tan is a ranking leader of the Free Vietnam Revolutionary Movement (FVRM) which was allegedly responsible for the bombing of the Vietnamese embassy in Thailand and the aborted bomb attack of a London embassy.
Espinosa and Degoma admitted they were utilized by Tan and Chanh as couriers of explosive components which were smuggled by the group from Manila to Ho Chi Minh City. The duo said the operation was conducted from May 24 to June 22 this year.
Perez said Espinosa and Degoma admitted that they also gave names of possible victims of the FVRM’s fake gold and federal notes swindling activities.
Two Filipinos, Cresencio Dagasdas and Florinda Estrada, are helping the FVRM in their illegal money-making ventures, the police said. They are now being hunted.
Boquecosa claimed Chanh, through Espinosa, asked him to convert transistor radios into switch and power source gadgets which were going to be used as improvised explosive devices.
According to Perez, the group was planning to establish a training camp either in Tara Island in Palawan or an island somewhere in Panay province before their arrest.
Perez, chairman of the National Anti-Crime Council (NACC), commended the officers and men of the PNP for busting the alleged terrorist group.