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Friday, April 28, 2006
Plot to rescue ranking JI member bared
JEMAAH Islamiyah (JI) operatives are reportedly planning to storm the provincial jail in South Cotabato and rescue suspected Indonesian terrorist Taufek Refke.
Nilo Sintin, chief of the South Cotabato Provincial Jail, made this disclosure, saying they received an intelligence report on the plan.
"We are on alert to foil their plan. Nevertheless, we treat him like any other prisoners," Sintin said.
As a precaution, he said, they have beefed up security measures in the prison compound by constructing a perimeter fence in an adjacent area recently reclaimed from squatters.
The crowded provincial jail is home to at least 800 convicts and inmates awaiting trials of their respective cases, said Sintin.
Refke, believed to be JI's No. 2 man in the country, was brought to the provincial jail last year after he was charged in the May 2003 Koronadal market blast where nine people were killed and dozens left injured.
The suspect, who is an overstaying alien in the country when he was captured, was arrested in Cotabato City in October 2003 and was later transported to Manila where President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo presented him to the media.
Refke, according to government officials, admitted being the finance and liaison officer of the JI in Mindanao.
Security officials claimed that Refke entered the country in August 1998 to train in Mindanao.
Among his trainers was Fathur Rohman al-Ghozi.
Al-Ghozie was killed in an alleged shootout with authorities in Cotabato province more in 2003, several months after he escaped from detention.
Officials said that around 40 JI members are allegedly in Mindanao to train on terrorism activities.
The JI members are purportedly seeking refuge in Mindanao in the bailiwicks of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, an accusation the Moro rebels vehemently denied.
Authorities have linked the JI to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda terrorist network. (RBS)
For Bisaya stories from General Santos.Click here. (This section is updated every Monday)
(April 24, 2006 issue)
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