From: Subject: Metro security tightened as ... - Apr. 01, 2004 Date: Wed, 28 Apr 2004 20:46:42 +0800 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/related; boundary="----=_NextPart_000_004B_01C42D61.E96BF2E0"; type="text/html" X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1409 This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_004B_01C42D61.E96BF2E0 Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Location: http://www.inq7.net/nat/2004/apr/01/text/nat_1-1-p.htm Metro security tightened as ... - Apr. 01, = 2004 this story was taken from=20 www.inq7.net

URL:=20 http://www.inq7.net/nat/2004/apr/01/text/nat_1-1-p.htm



Metro = security=20 tightened as
2 more Abu suspects fall
Posted:0:15 AM=20 (Manila Time) | Apr. 01, 2004
By Christian V. = Esguerra,=20 Alcuin Papa and Juliet Labog-Javellana
Inquirer News Service=20

SECURITY forces tightened security around Metro Manila on Wednesday = and=20 arrested two more suspected Abu Sayyaf members allegedly involved in a = plot to=20 bomb trains and malls in the capital, including a big shopping=20 center.

Besides the popular mall, the apparent potential targets = of the=20 bombers included the oil depot in Manila=92s Pandacan district near = Malaca=F1ang, as=20 well as stations of the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) and Light Rail Transit = (LRT), a=20 highly reliable security official told the Inquirer.

The = supposed list=20 of targets also identified personalities the Abu Sayyaf planned to = kidnap in=20 Metro Manila. Among them was the scion of a wealthy businessman, who was = immediately warned about the plot, said the source who asked not to be=20 identified.

The latest arrests brought to six the number of = alleged=20 plotters belonging to an Abu Sayyaf cell who are now in custody. = President=20 Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said the plot called for bombings on the scale = of the=20 recent bombings of commuter trains in Madrid, Spain, which killed almost = 200=20 people.

Police said the prospective targets were listed on a = piece of=20 paper found in the wallet of Al-hamsed Manatad Limbong, also known as = "Kosovo,"=20 said to be the second cousin of Abu Sayyaf chieftain Khadaffy Janjalani = and=20 supposedly involved in the beheading in 2001 of American hostage = Guillermo=20 Sobero.

Chief Superintendent Ismael Rafanan, police intelligence = group=20 director, said the list outlined several structures to be blown up but = Rafanan=20 refused to say which structures they were.

No truck=20 bombs

The unnamed security official said that with only six = members=20 in their cell, Kosovo's group abandoned plans to use truck or car=20 bombs.

"Truck bombs are not that easy to assemble," the source = added.=20

Instead, the operation might have involved "individual = bombings," or=20 planting a bomb in one target, he said.

"The objective really = was to sow=20 terror and at the same time to raise money," the source added. =

Ms=20 Macapagal said security measures had been tightened around the = metropolis of 12=20 million people.

"We will have more police patrols and barangay = level=20 alert, inspection of private security procedures and joint drills," the=20 President said.

She also ordered a massive campaign of public = information=20 on terrorist networks and their activities "so our people will know how = to=20 collectively face these threats."

"National security is = everybody's=20 business," she said. "Our cooperation and vigilance will stop these=20 threats."

Ms Macapagal announced the arrests in the middle of a = campaign=20 for a tough election battle on May 10.

The military and police = said they=20 had also been on a high level of alert for days because of threats of = stepped-up=20 attacks from the communist New People's Army, which marked its 35th = anniversary=20 last Monday.

The annual surge of air, train and bus travel ahead of Holy Week are = also=20 cause for higher vigilance, the army and police said. The red alert = situation=20 would remain until at least Easter Sunday.

"Police in Manila are = on=20 heightened alert because of multiple threats -- the NPA, Abu Sayyaf and = the=20 Lenten season, when many people are traveling," Chief Superintendent = Joel=20 Goltiao said.

Goltiao said all Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) = teams=20 were out on the streets. Police on motorbikes, with a second officer = carrying an=20 M-16 semi-automatic rifle on the back of the bike, have also been = sighted around=20 Manila.

"All Army units in Metro Manila have been on red alert = since=20 Saturday, and will remain on red alert in the coming days," said = Lieutenant=20 Colonel Daniel Lucero, Armed Forces public information chief.

The = two=20 latest suspects, Walter Ancheta Villanueva, alias Abdul Wali, and John=20 Villanueva, alias Yahya, were picked up in Fairview, Quezon City. =

Walter=20 Villanueva has a standing arrest warrant for illegal possession of = firearms and=20 explosives, Rafanan said. He said the second man was invited for=20 questioning.

Seized from the pair were a "minimal" amount of = explosives=20 and some firearms, including a pistol, he said.

Cell=20 dismantled?

Rafanan said samples of the TNT seized during the = initial=20 arrests would be turned over to the Coast Guard so they could be = compared with=20 forensic findings from the sunken SuperFerry.

"We're still in = the=20 process of verifying allegations as against forensic findings," he said. =

With the arrest of the six alleged terrorists, Rafanan said = authorities=20 were hoping they had fully dismantled the Abu Sayyaf cell plotting to = bomb=20 targets in Metro Manila.

"We hope the government has fully = accounted for=20 the group so nobody would sow chaos anymore," he told = reporters.

An=20 intelligence source told the Inquirer that Villanueva and his companion = were the=20 last of the known Abu Sayyaf cell in Metro Manila.

"If there = would be=20 any attack, it would most likely come from a separate cell. But that = would be=20 remote at this point," Rafanan said.

He said that while Abu = Sayyaf cells=20 could be many, each consisted of only about six members each.

The = cell=20 believed to have been dismantled had a direct line to Janjalani, police = said.=20

The PNP leadership had previously insisted that the Abu Sayyaf's = activities had been confined to remote areas in Mindanao. =

Besides=20 Limbong, the three others arrested in earlier raids in Makati and Quezon = were=20 identified as confessed ferry bomber Redendo Cain Dellosa, Abdusaid Lim = and=20 Radsamar Sangkula.

Rafanan theorized that the cell might have long been based in the = metropolis=20 but that it was discovered and dismantled only now.

He said = Dellosa=20 himself unwittingly helped security forces in making the breakthrough.=20

During the first week of March, Rafanan said, Dellosa was heard=20 recklessly "blabbing" about that he was involved in the explosion and = fire that=20 sank SuperFerry 14 on Feb. 27.

Having received a tip, Rafanan and = his men=20 trailed Dellosa, took video footage of him and his companion, and later = showed=20 the footage to former Abu Sayyaf hostage Ronald Ulla and another = government=20 witness.

Ulla, among 21 people kidnapped by the Abu Sayyaf from = Sipadan=20 Island, Malaysia, in 2000, and the witness both confirmed that Dellosa = and the=20 others were part of the bandit group involved in the hostage-taking. =

A=20 source from the intelligence community told the Inquirer that Villanueva = was=20 believed to have been the Abu Sayyaf man who escorted action star Robin = Padilla=20 in 2001 to the bandit group's lair in Basilan province, where the actor = sought=20 the release of hostages then being held there.

The suspect is = also a=20 "balik-Islam" or a recent convert to Islam.

AFP information chief = Lucero=20 said the arrests "could lead to the discovery of more secrets of the Abu = Sayyaf=20 here in Metro Manila."

"The revelations that they will be sharing = with us=20 could lead us to more success," he told reporters.

The six = suspects have=20 been placed under the custody of the Philippine National Police, which = is not=20 exactly famous for its ability to keep high-profile detainees in jail.=20

No escape this time

But PNP Director General = Hermogenes=20 Ebdane Jr. and other top officials believe it would be next to = impossible for=20 the six suspects to escape as they had been locked up in a newly = constructed=20 "state-of-the-art" facility for high-risk inmates in the heart of Camp = Crame=20 national police headquarters.

"It's just impossible," Senior=20 Superintendent Eric Reyes, director of the new custodial center, told = the=20 Inquirer Wednesday.

Rafanan said he was "100-percent sure" nobody = could=20 escape from the center.

The facility was built out of the old = detention=20 center of the Police Anti-Crime Emergency and Response (PACER) team = following=20 the escape of Indonesian terrorist Fathur Rohman al-Ghozi and two Abu = Sayyaf=20 detainees from Camp Crame on July 14 last year.

The facility = should=20 ideally house 120 prisoners with four detainees in each cell, according = to=20 Reyes.

There are currently 158 inmates there and in the old PACER = detention center located in the same compound, he said.

The = capacity will=20 increase to 180-200 inmates once the other half of the new center is = completed=20 and the PACER facility is fully refurbished by next month, Reyes = said.

At=20 least 137 highly trained policemen guard the custodial center. They are = armed=20 with standard 9-mm pistols, M-16 rifles and shotguns.

Reyes said = they all=20 went through a comprehensive "high-risk inmate management training" = under a=20 member of the US Federal Penitentiary. The training included measures to = ensure=20 that jail guards would not be complacent and "too familiar" with = inmates, he=20 said.

He said it would also be impossible for outsiders to aid = inmates to=20 escape.

"Inspection is very strict," he said. "We have metal = detectors,=20 we do strip searches and other procedures."

Reyes said his men = recently=20 caught a woman trying to smuggle a cellular phone, stuffed in cooked = rice inside=20 a plastic pack, into the custodial center.

Inmates are barred = from using=20 mobile phones.
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