Metro terror plot derailed?

Last week’s arrest of a Jordanian national may have disrupted a terror plot in Metro Manila, according to military and police officials.

Anti-terrorism authorities tagged Mohammad Amin Al-Ghaffari as the financial conduit of terror groups al-Qaeda and the Jemaah Islamiyah to operatives in the country, an accusation the Jordanian has repeatedly denied.

"To some extent, we believe that whatever plots they may been planning to launch here were disrupted due to financial constraints," one source said.

Al-Ghaffari, now detained at the Bureau of Immigration, is the director of the several Muslim non-government organizations and foundations.

The Muslim NGOs have been under close government surveillance following reports that Saudi exile and terror mastermind Osama bin Laden has been using them as fronts for his al-Qaeda network, particularly in channeling funds to finance terror operations in the Asian region.

"His arrest was timely in the light of recent developments," the source said.

The source said, however, that a heightened state of alert will remain enforced in Metro Manila and other urban centers due to the reported presence of more than dozens of suspected foreign terrorists in Metro Manila.

"We are not taking any chances as we are dealing here with faceless and determined enemies," the source said.

Al-Ghaffari was arrested last week in Greenhills, San Juan by agents of the Bureau of Immigration and Deportation and the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) for violation of immigration laws.

This is contrary to reports that Al-Ghaffari voluntarily presented himself to the immigration bureau after he was linked by military agents to the recent Zamboanga bombing that left an American and three Filipinos dead.

Philippine National Police chief Director General Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. likewise clarified that Al-Ghaffari had never been an intelligence asset.

He had been scheduled to be deported the other day, but for a still unknown reason, the proceedings did not push through.

QC cops on red alert

The Central Police District (WPD) went on red alert effective midnight the other day following the terrorist attack in Indonesia, joining the Manila and Makati police in putting in place tighter security measures.

Senior Inspector Rodolfo Jaraza, CPD-Intelligence Unit chief, said yesterday that while there are no threats of terrorism in the city so far, the red alert status is necessary "just in case."

"We have already increased police visibility in many areas in Quezon City and have deployed more patrols. This will go on until we are sure that there won’t be any terrorist attack," Jaraza told The Star in an interview.

According to SPO2 Rafael de Peralta, the CPD had been on full alert after the bombings in Bali, Indonesia. He said that police in Metro Manila "at the very least" are ready for any eventuality.

"From the top official to the youngest officer, we are on full-scale alert, 24 hours a day to thwart terrorists and individuals out to take advantage of the situation," De Peralta said.

CPD operatives said that they have been coordinating with policemen from other districts and "comparing intelligence reports."

They said that this is a standard procedure in a heightened alert status.

Street vendors vs terrorists?

The Western Police District (WPD) is planning to tap the services of streets vendors in Manila as informants in its anti-terrorist drive.

According to WPD director Senior Superintendent Pedro Bulaong, they now have in the drawing board a plan that would involve street hawkers in police work as intelligence gatherers.

"Our policemen are now networking with vendors. There are not enough policemen to guard every inch of the city," Bulaong said.

He said street vendors can prove to be efficient intelligence gatherers as they spend most of their time on the streets from where they can inform police of activities and movements by suspicious persons. – With Matthew Estabillo, Mike Frialde