Cebuano pinned down on Al-Ghozi deal

CEBU CITY — A chief investigator from Camp Crame testified in court the other day that slain Indonesian terrorist Fathur Rohman Al-Ghozi and a confessed Moro Islamic Liberation Front member said during interrogation that the explosives used during the Rizal Day bombing in Manila in 2001 were bought from a local supplier.

Police investigator Amado Barbasa said he was the one who interrogated Al-Ghozi and MILF member Cusain Ramos and that he learned from them that the explosives were purchased from a certain Tony whom Ramos earlier identified as Antonio Reyes.

Barbasa’s testimony was intended to corroborate the earlier testimony of Ramos that he accompanied Al-Ghozi to meet with Reyes to buy the explosives three years ago.

In his testimony, Ramos said that in November 2000, Al-Ghozi and a certain Mukles personally asked him to go with them to Talisay City where he reportedly acted as interpreter for Al-Ghozi when the latter talked to Reyes.

Ramos said Al-Ghozi stayed in a hotel in Cebu City for about a week during that time.

With P80,000 as payment for the purchase, Ramos brought two boxes of explosive grade gunpowder to Lapu-Lapu City where Al-Ghozi and Mukles waited for him.

After that, he accompanied the two men back to Cebu City where they boarded a boat reportedly bound for General Santos City.

Ramos pointed to Reyes in court and positively identified him as the one who supplied the explosives. Reyes is now facing charges of illegal possession of explosives.

The explosives bought from Reyes were believed to have been used in the Rizal Day bombing in Manila in 2001, which left more than a hundred people killed and wounded. — Freeman News Service