Similar plot first uncovered in Philippines, says police chief

A terrorist plot similar to this week's attack in New York and Washington was first uncovered in Manila in 1995, Philippine police said today.

The statement came amid a warning by the senate's vice chair for national defence that Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden, the prime suspect in Tuesday's attacks in the US, could try to slip into the southern Philippines where he maintains contacts with Muslim separatist rebels.

Chief Superintendent Avelino Razon said a plot called "Project Bojinka" was uncovered by Philippine police in 1995 after arresting terrorist Abdul Hakim Murad in a Manila apartment where he was plotting to assassinate visiting Pope John Paul II.

Murad "is part of a terrorist cell established by Ramzi Yousef under the direction of Osama bin Laden," Razon said. Both Murad and Yousef were then wanted by US authorities for the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center.

"In the course of the investigation, we found out through a laptop computer confiscated from Murad that they were also going to implement a terrorist plot called Project Bojinka," Razon, formerly Manila's police chief, said.

The plot called for the hijacking of US commercial airliners, bombing them or crashing them into several targets including the Central Intelligence Agency.

"Murad admitted that when he was being questioned that he was being trained for a suicide mission. We were able to find out that they had some targets already," Razon said.

Murad was later extradited to the United States, where he and Yousef were later convicted for the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center with the help of Philippine police who testified.

Razon said Project Bojinka had been in the planning stage as early as 1994, when the terrorists carried out a test mission by exploding a bomb on board a Japan-bound Philippine Airlines jet, killing one passenger.

Razon said US federal officials were aware of Project Bojinka and that the Philippines' crack terrorist team was continuing to work closely with them.

He said there could be no doubt that the attacks on the New York World Trade Center and the Pentagon were carried out by bin Laden's men.

"I remember that after the first World Trade Center bombing Osama bin Laden made a statement that on the second attempt they would be successful," Razon stressed. He said they could have chosen to carry out the attack on September 11, to mark the anniversary of Yousef's conviction for the first attack several years ago.

Meanwhile, Senator Rodolfo Biazon, a former military armed forces chief, warned that bin Laden could try to slip into the country if forced out of Afghanistan and other Middle East countries amid US pressure.

He said bin Laden was known to have direct contacts with the Abu Sayyaf Muslim group, now holding two US and 16 Filipino hostages in the south.

If the Saudi dissident is expelled by his hosts, "the possibility of Osama bin Laden seeking refuge among his allies the Abu Sayyaf exists."

A firefighter screams in pain during his rescue Tuesday shortly after the collapse of the World Trade Center towers.
The photo was released Wednesday. Some 350 firefighters still are missing, including some of New York City's top fire commanders. [AP photo: Robert Mecea, Newsday]

September 11, to mark the anniversary of Yousef's conviction

Conviction was on September 5, 1996 and was for a plot to blow up 12 airlines. Conviction for the Trade Center bombing was in November, 1997.

Plane terror suspects convicted on all counts
September 5, 1996
Web posted at: 3:00 p.m. EDT

NEW YORK (CNN) -- A federal jury on Thursday found three men guilty of plotting to bomb 12 U.S. airliners in Asia.

The jury found Ramzi Ahmed Yousef, the alleged mastermind of the plot, and two other defendants, Abdul Hakim Murad and Wali Khan Amin Shah, guilty on seven counts after two-and-a-half days of deliberations.

Yousef, 29, also is the alleged mastermind of the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center in New York. He still faces trial in that case.

Yousef, who holds an Iraqi passport, also has been linked to schemes to assassinate President Clinton, and Pope John Paul II during the pontiff's visit to Manila.

Each man was charged with conspiring and attempting to bomb the dozen targeted aircraft during a 48-hour period in January 1995. The bombings could have killed 4,000 people aboard the planes, prosecutors said.

The men could face life sentences.

Fire led to arrests

Officials said they uncovered the airline plot in January 6, 1995, when a fire broke out in a Manila apartment where, they said, Yousef and Murad were mixing chemicals.

Yousef fled the country after the fire, and police arrested Murad as he allegedly came back to the apartment to clear out incriminating evidence.

Those items included nitroglycerin, bomb-making equipment, manuals containing bomb formulas, a computer with information on airline flights, timers for detonating bombs and a letter threatening to attack American targets.

The government said the defendants even devised a name for their airline terror plot: "Project Bojinka." 7 Yousef was captured the next month in Islamabad, Pakistan, after a 23-month manhunt.

During the trial, which began in May, Yousef represented himself. Speaking clearly and calmly in his closing argument, he accused police in the Philippines and Pakistan of planting evidence against him.

His appointed legal adviser, Roy Kulcsar, supported that contention: "I think the evidence fully supports the finding that almost everybody who came from the Philippines, certainly everyone who was with the Philippine Nation Police, lied at one critical point or another. They admitted as much in their testimony,"

Timers tested?

In June, a Philippine bomb squad officer cast doubt on the prosecution's case when he testified that his written report falsely claimed a pipe bomb was found in an attaché case outside the apartment door and that he was ordered by his supervisor to list items he hadn't seen in the attaché.

But prosecutors said there was little doubt that Yousef orchestrated the "Bojinka" plot, trained his two co-defendants and tested a watch timer.

Yousef was charged with placing a bomb on a Philippine Air Lines 747 flight from Manila to Tokyo on December 11, 1994, in what prosecutors believe was a test run for the 1995 airline plot. One passenger was killed.

Defendant Shah is accused of testing a different timer by leaving a bomb in a Manila theater.

Shah's attorney dismissed the evidence, saying his client lost three fingers from his left hand fighting in Afghanistan and was hardly a candidate to plan an airline bombing.

But that argument apparently carried little weight with the jurors.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.