Police have detained two al-Qaeda-linked Indonesians and a Malaysian who were training militants to mount car bomb attacks in the Philippines, an official said Thursday. Police named the detained suspects as Ted Yolanda of Malaysia and Indonesians Mohamad Nasir Hamid and Mohamad Yusuf Karin alias Pais. | "My brothers call me Pais. The infidels call me a mastermind." |
"They were preparing to go into car bombs," Rafanan said. "They have reached that level of sophistication. They are ready to do it." He declined to identify the targets, saying only that they planned to "train people to do that."
| "We'll let you when they start singing." |
| Pinoy not ready to "insurge" just yet. |
The military last week arrested two members of the Abu Sayyaf—another al-Qaeda-linked militant group—for the bombing of a bus in Makati City on February 14, when two other bombs ripped through a bus depot in General Santos and a shopping mall in Davao City. Rafanan, director of the Philippine National Police Intelligence Group, said it is too early to link the four suspects to the Valentine bombings. He said there was a delay in revealing their arrest because follow-up operations were still going on and the police would like to pinpoint the suspects' local contact.
The two Indonesians also yielded $7,000 in cash, which authorities believed would be used to finance their operations. The four have been charged with illegal possession of explosives and firearms. The three foreigners have also been charged with violating immigration laws. Lt. Gen. Allan Cabalquinto, chief of the military's National Capital Regional Command, said at least 10 other members of the Abu Sayyaf, all believed to be explosives experts, continue to case targets in Metro Manila. Despite the recent arrests of suspected terrorists, President Arroyo is still not satisfied with the antiterrorism campaign. In her speech following the swearing in of the newly promoted officers of the Armed Forces of the Philippines in Malacañang, the President reiterated the need to have an internal security or antiÂÂterrorism law. "We have met consistent success in the antiterrorism campaign. But it is time to bring the issue to a higher plane of preemptive security," Mrs. Arroyo said. Defense Secretary Avelino Cruz, who attended the oath taking of the officers, said the arrested foreigners would not be deported yet. "Since their charges are nonbailable, they will be detained, and the evidence that is in will be the basis of continuous operations to get more of their cohorts," Cruz said.