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Thursday, April 10, 2008
'JI member' escapes arrest in Laguna raid
MANILA -- A suspected Filipino member of the Southeast Asian regional terror network Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) has eluded arrest by police operatives who raided an alleged terrorist safe house in Alaminos, Laguna, officials said Wednesday.
The target of Tuesday's raid was Khalid Pagayao, a Filipino allegedly tied to the al-Qaeda-linked JI network and a plot to bomb Western embassies in the Philippines, but he was not in the house, Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno said.
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Laguna Police Provincial Director Felipe Rojas said his men swooped down on the lair of Pagayao at 5:17 p.m. Tuesday at the Al Imam compound in Alaminos but he was no longer around when the authorities arrived.
National police chief Avelino Razon Jr. said the raid was part of an investigation into recovered Arabic documents that revealed a plot to attack several Western embassies.
Chief Superintendent Raul L. Castaneda, head of the police's criminal investigation group, said Pagayao was wanted for his alleged involvement in the plot, which included plans to bomb the US, British, Australian, and Israeli embassies in Manila.
Castaneda said Pagayao's alleged role in the terrorist cell was not clear.
The raid followed the deportation Tuesday of two Jordanian men allegedly involved in the bomb plot. They were arrested by security forces in February.
According to Rojas, the raid was conducted by virtue of a search warrant issued by Cavite province Judge Cesar Manrobang.
"Khalid Pagayao, a suspected JI operative has been the subject of our surveillance operations but unfortunately he eluded arrest during the raid," said Rojas, adding that the operation was a result of a tip given by an unnamed informant.
While the policemen were not able to get Pagayao, they recovered 550 pieces of blasting caps, 25 pieces of time fuse, two detonating cords and still quantity of bomb chemicals, which they recovered from the raided safe house.
Rojas said follow-up operations are ongoing to locate Pagayao. He declined to discuss the details of the suspect's possible whereabouts because this may jeopardize the ongoing operations.
Secretary Puno presented to the media at Camp Crame in Quezon City the seized bomb materials. "The purpose of the search was to arrest and neutralize members of the terror group JI which have ties with the Al Qaeda," he said. (VR/Sunnex/With AP)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Dumaguete. (April 10, 2008 issue)
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