PHILIPPINES: POLICE SAY THEY BELIEVE JEMAAH ISLAMIAH CHIEF BOMB MAKER, ROHMAN AL-GHOZI, WHO ESCAPED FROM PRISON IS STILL IN METRO MANILA AREA
Record ID:
358739
PHILIPPINES: POLICE SAY THEY BELIEVE JEMAAH ISLAMIAH CHIEF BOMB MAKER, ROHMAN AL-GHOZI, WHO ESCAPED FROM PRISON IS STILL IN METRO MANILA AREA
- Title: PHILIPPINES: POLICE SAY THEY BELIEVE JEMAAH ISLAMIAH CHIEF BOMB MAKER, ROHMAN AL-GHOZI, WHO ESCAPED FROM PRISON IS STILL IN METRO MANILA AREA
- Date: 17th July 2003
- Summary: (U3) MANILA, PHILIPPINES (JULY 16, 2003) (REUTERS) 1. SLV POLICE CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION CHIEF SUPERINTENDENT EDUARDO MATILLANO ENTERING CONFERENCE HALL; MV JOURNALISTS 0.10 2. (SOUNDBITE) (English) POLICE CHIEF SUPERINTENDENT EDUARDO MATILLANO SAYING "Well, we have sent operatives all over the country and we hope that they are still in Metro Manila
- Embargoed: 1st August 2003 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: MANILA, PHILIPPINES
- Country: Philippines
- Reuters ID: LVA2OBQ8TQN47Y2J1BIH4N68DJD1
- Story Text: Philippine police officials have said they believe
Jemaah Islamiah chief bomb maker, Rohman al-Ghozi, who escaped
from maximum security prison is still in the Metro Manila
area.
Al-Ghozi, an Indonesian Muslim militant, slipped out
of a special detention centre at the national police
headquarters in Manila early on Monday (July 14, 2003), along with
two other local Islamic militants.
Police criminal investigation chief Superintendent Eduardo
Matillano said it would be difficult for al-Ghozi to elude
their checkpoints.
"Well, we have sent operatives all over the country and we
hope that they are still in Metro Manila because we have
sealed all possible exits at the airports and seaports," said
Matillano.
Ports and airports have been put on alert, a nation-wide
manhunt has been launched and mug shot photos of the three
fugitives have been distributed to police intelligence offices
across the country.
Al-Ghozi escaped from a high-security prison in Manila on
Monday (July 14) morning, apparently with the connivance of
his guards, Matillano added.
"The guard who was supposed to be there 24 hours a day was
sleeping in another room and that was the guy who was charged
with "infidelity in the custody of prisoners" and the gate
guards was absent. He was not in his post during that time, he
went somewhere, according to him to buy something and
according to him, he did not see anything unusual when he came
back."
Al-Ghozi escaped with two Filipino rebels believed to be
members of another radical Islamic group, the Abu Sayyaf.
Both groups have been linked to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda
network.
Indonesian police said they were on alert in case Al-Ghozi
attempted to reach his home town, Madiun in East Java.
The Philippines offered on Tuesday a five-million-peso
(93,000 U.S.dollars) bounty for Al-Ghozi's recapture. Al-Ghozi
who had said he was on a mission to wage holy war in Southeast
Asia, was serving a jail term of up to 12 years for illegal
possession of explosives and falsifying travel papers.
The slim, bearded Indonesian escaped a week after being
charged with murdering 12 people in the bombing of a Manila
commuter train on December 30, 2000 -- one of a series of near
simultaneous explosions in the capital on that day.
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, angered and embarrassed
by the escape, sacked the three prison guards assigned to
watch Al-Ghozi's cell after police officials said there were
no signs of a forced break-out, suggesting connivance.
The jail guards were slapped with criminal charges.
Chief Superintendent Eduardo Matillano said the guards did
not maintain a logbook of cars coming and going from the camp.
He added that a Superintendent and the command duty officer
were amongst other 'John Does' charged this morning for
allowing Al-Ghazi to escape.
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