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Sunday, March 18, 2007
Gov't recaptures Sayyaf fugitive in Basilan
By Ulysses E. Israel
ZAMBOANGA CITY -- Government security forces recaptured a suspected member of an al-Qaeda-linked group Abu Sayyaf who escaped from a police jail facility nearly four years ago, police said Saturday.
A joint operation conducted by the Isabela and Zamboanga City Police and 1st Marine Brigade arrested Omar Opik Lasal alias Merang Abante around 3 p.m. in Basilan province, police said.
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Lasal escaped from a police detention cell inside Camp Crame in 2003 with Indonesian bomber Fathur Rohman Al-Ghozi. Al-Ghozi died in a police encounter three months after his escape.
Isabela City Police Chief Parson Asadil said Lasal was arrested by virtue of a warrant of arrest for his alleged involvement in various kidnapping incidents and serious illegal detention perpetrated by the Abu Sayyaf. He was also the main suspect in the assassination of a Basilan policeman this year.
Zamboanga City Police Director Manuel Barcena planned the operation to arrest Lasal after learning that he was in Basilan.
Lasal was later turned over to the Marines and is now under the custody of the Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom) in Zamboanga City.
Lasal was quoted in newspapers, as saying, that he was no longer a member of the Abu Sayyaf.
He also claimed to be an agent of a military intelligence unit and claimed to be instrumental in the success of several operations against his former comrades.
"Right now, I am connected with the Military Intelligence Company (Mico) and if there are assignments for me to do, I am being tapped," Lasal said.
Lasal's fellow Abu Sayyaf member Abdulmukin Edris and Fathur Roman Al-Ghozi, a demolition expert from the Southeast Asian terror group Jemaah Islamiyah, bolted from a maximum security cell at the national police headquarters in Manila in July 2003.
Edris was killed after he tried to grab a rifle from a soldier who had arrested him in Lanao del Norte province about a month later, and Al-Ghozi died in a gunbattle at a roadblock in southern Pigkawayan town in October that year.
Al-Ghozi had confessed to his involvement in five near-simultaneous bombings in Manila on Dec. 30, 2000, that killed 22 people and wounded more than 100 others. He was serving a 10-12-year prison term when he escaped.
A commission that investigated the escape found no evidence of collusion between prison wardens and the three men but concluded officers on duty were negligent.
The guards had allegedly tried to pin the blame on each other and delayed reporting the escapes to their superiors, including President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who was "kept in the dark" for several hours, the commission said.
The escape embarrassed Arroyo, coming as Australian Prime Minister John Howard was making a state visit focused on anti-terrorism cooperation.
The Abu Sayyaf has gained notoriety for numerous kidnappings, bombings and beheadings.
A massive U.S.-backed military operation on southern Jolo island has led to the killings of its chieftain Khaddafy Janjalani and his reputed successor, Abu Solaiman. (With a report from AP)For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Zamboanga. (March 18, 2007 issue)
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