Convicted Indonesian gives evidence on Singapore bomb plot

A jailed Indonesian explosives expert told prosecutors under oath yesterday he was part of a plot by an Islamic militant group to conduct a bombing campaign in Singapore.

Fathur Rohman al-Ghozi, jailed for 12 years in April on illegal explosives charges, said top leaders of the Jemaah Islamiyah group came to Manila in December 2000 and ordered him to "buy five to seven tons of explosives and to take them to Singapore to be used there."

He identified the leaders as Riduan Isamuddin, an Indonesian Islamic religious teacher, and Faiz Abu Bakar Bafana, a former Singaporean who is now a Malaysian national.

Al-Ghozi said he went to Singapore in November 2000 on orders of Abu Bakar to see the latter’s brother Fathi Abu Bakar Bafana.

"While I was there, we went to scout the US and Israeli embassies which are our main targets," he said in a sworn statement. "This was one of the reasons why I was sent to the Philippines to buy explosives."

Police took Al-Ghozi from his cell and escorted him yesterday to the justice department to submit his written deposition taken by police investigators here in July.

State prosecutor Roberto Lao is conducting a preliminary hearing on a police recommendation to indict Fais Abu Bakar Bafana and Isamuddin on explosives charges.

Police allege Isamuddin, who is at large and is known to Southeast Asian intelligence officials by his alias "Hambali," is one of the top leaders of Jemaah Islamiyah.

Fais Abu Bakar Bafana was among 13 Islamic militants detained by Singapore in late 2001 in connection with the bomb plots on foreign embassies there.

The Jemaah Islami—yah is a Southeast Asian Islamic militant group outlawed in Malaysia and Singapore and which intelligence sources say operates in Indonesia.

Authorities in the Philippines, Singapore and Malaysia allege that Jemaah Islamiyah has ties to the al-Qaeda network of Osama bin Laden, the main suspect in the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in the United States.

Al-Ghozi said he met his two alleged superiors after completing guerrilla training in Pakistan and Afghanistan. The two men funnelled the funds used to buy explosives through three Philippines bank accounts in Al-Ghozi’s name, the detainee said.

He said he bought 70 kilograms of explosives in Cebu City in November 2000, and that some of the material was used to bomb Manila’s Light Rail Transit system on Dec. 30, 2000, killing 22 people and injuring more than 100 others.

A Cebu trader, Antonio Reyes, has been tagged as the supplier of the explosives. He snubbed yesterday’s preliminary investigation.

Al-Ghozi said he later bought 1.2 tons of explosives and took them to General Santos City.

The huge cache was seized by police last Jan. 17, shortly after Al-Ghozi was arrested in Manila. — AFP, Delon Porcalla