Mission of terror

A suspected logistics officer of the Abu Sayyaf group was sent to Metro Mania along with eight cohorts to sow terror attacks in the metropolis, a veteran intelligence officer told The STAR.

The source said the Western Police District (WPD) and the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP) are now hunting down eight other companions of one Samir Hakim, 43, alias Husim Samil.

"We are still tracking down eight others," a ranking intelligence officer told The STAR. "Hopefully we get them before they could carry out criminal activities."

A joint WPD-Intelligence and Investigation Division and ISAFP Military Intelligence 15 (MI15) team arrested Hakim during a raid in Intramuros, Manila. He was then working as a security guard of the Octagon security agency posted at the Ablaza pawnshop in Divisoria, Manila.

Besides sowing terror, the source said, Hakim’s group was also sent to Metro Manila to sell illegal drugs and unlicensed firearms.

"Hakim’s group are directly under Abu Sulayman, an engineer and said to be the chief of the Abu Sayyaf group’s Special Operation’s Group," said the veteran intelligence officer. "So when Sulayman tells them to carry out bombing, they will do so."

WPD director Chief Superintendent Pedro Bulaong said police and military intelligence officials have photographs of the alleged Abu Sayyaf members now in the metropolis.

"Our intelligence operatives have photos of the group members and leaders who may be in Metro Manila. They are coordinating with military intelligence," Bulaong said in a radio interview. "We at the WPD will flush them out if we find them."

Bulaong noted that these Abu Sayyaf leaders and members might have taken up legitimate jobs in Metro Manila by using fake documents, as did Hakim, who worked as a security guard in a pawnshop.

But the WPD chief admitted that Hakim has refused to cooperate with interrogators so far, making it hard for investigators to get more information on the whereabouts of his cohorts. "We have to look for them on our own because Hakim refuses to cooperate."

However, Bulaong was quick to reassure the public the Abu Sayyaf cannot conduct terrorist acts in Metro Manila, as police and military agents have tightened their watch over possible terrorist targets.

"As far as we know, he is the group’s procurement officer and he was looking for equipment to procure and send to his colleagues in Mindanao," Bulaong said.

Superintendent Edgar Danao, chief of the WPD’s intelligence and investigation division, said Hakim has at least eight arrest warrants, including the Dos Palmas kidnapping in May 2001.

Hakim was identified by kidnap victims Angie Montealegre and Buddy Recio as one of their captors.