Wednesday, May 03, 2006
Terrorists have fled Luzon: police
MANILA -- A ranking intelligence official of the police said Tuesday that most of the members of the Abu Sayyaf group who plotted to bomb last Monday's Labor Day protest rallies have left Luzon.
Police raided last week a lair of the Abu Sayyaf in Marikina City, resulting in the seizure of a cache of explosives allegedly intended for the bombing.
The terrorists were, however, able to escape before the arrival of the raiding team.
"The group that owned the grenades and explosive materials in Marikina is out of Luzon at the moment. We see no specific threat from this group," said Police Intelligence Group (IG) Director Romeo Ricardo.
But Ricardo said one or two members of the cell, which originally had 11 members, are still in the metropolis. "There are (still) one or two members left (here) but they cannot act by themselves," he added.
Ricardo declined to say where or when the members of the Abu Sayyaf cell slipped out of Luzon.
Ricardo admitted that the group's plot to bomb the Labor Day protest rallies was not backed by documents and computer files seized along with the explosives during the raid at the Abu Sayyaf lair in SSS Village, Marikina City.
"Nothing was detailed regarding targets and plans. There is nothing in the diskette," he said. The police have also linked the communists as plotting to bomb the protest rallies but could not substantiate their claims. (VR/Sunnex)
(May 3, 2006 issue)
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