Posted on 01/19/2002 3:56:08 AM PST by JohnHuang2
Jan 19, 2002 (FWN Financial via COMTEX) -- MANILA (AP)--A cache of explosives, believed to be part of the al-Qaida network's stockpile, was intended for bombing attacks in Singapore, officials said Saturday.Officials said more than a ton of TNT and explosive boosters were unearthed Thursday after army intelligence, police and immigration agents arrested Fathur Rohman Al-Ghozi of Indonesia on suspicion that he was part of a terrorist cell busted recently in Singapore.
"The explosives seized from Al-Ghozi was intended for terroristic activities in Singapore," army chief Lt. Gen. Jaime de los Santos told a news conference where Al-Ghozi was presented to reporters.
Officials said Al-Ghozi, 30, was arrested Tuesday in Manila's Quiapo district just hours before he was to fly to Bangkok, Thailand.
Singaporean authorities suspect Al-Ghozi is a key leader of Jemaah Islamiyah, a group that also has cells in neighboring Indonesia and Malaysia, Philippine officials said. Thirteen members of the group have been arrested in Singapore, and Singapore police say eight received al-Qaida training in Afghanistan.
The group allegedly planned to attack U.S. military personnel and naval vessels as well as the British High Commission, the Israeli Embassy and the Australian High Commission in Singapore.
The statement said Al-Ghozi went to Singapore in October to help prepare the bombing plans.
Philippine National Police chief Leandro Mendoza said Philippine investigators believe the explosives were to be shipped to Singapore through Malaysia.
De los Santos, however, said other explosives may already be "in transit because they have a huge network and lots of funding."
He said he expected full cooperation from his counterparts in Indonesia and Singapore in further investigation of the terrorist network in the region.
Police seized the explosives buried in the backyard of a house and arrested three men Thursday in General Santos City, about 625 miles southeast of Manila. They also recovered 300 detonators, six 400-yard rolls of detonating cord and 17 M-16 assault rifles.
Police said the explosive boosters appeared to have been manufactured in the Philippines and the detonators were made in India.
Interior Secretary Jose Lina said the seizures were a "major victory" against terrorism.
Al-Ghozi allegedly admitted he helped finance the Dec. 30, 2000, bombings in metropolitan Manila that killed 22 people, officials said.
"The arrest of these suspected terrorists foiled plans by their group to conduct more bombings in Metro Manila and abroad," Mendoza said.
The southern Philippine-based Abu Sayyaf extremist group, notorious for kidnapping foreigners and attacking Christians, also has been linked to al-Qaida. The group is holding an American couple and a Filipino nurse hostage on southern Basilan island.
(C) Copyright 2002 FWN
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