COTABATO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Dec. 2, 2008) – Philippine authorities arrested a Bangladeshi al-Qaeda bomb expert after soldiers and police commandos raided his hideout in Mindanao, where security forces are battling Moro rebels.
Security forces arrested Muhammad Alpariz in the village called Tapayan in Sultan Mastura in Shariff Kabunsuan, one of six provinces of the Muslim autonomous region, police sources told the Mindanao Examiner.
Sources said only Chief Supt. Felizardo Serapio, Jr., head of one of two newly created Directorates for Integrated Police Operations in Mindanao, is authorized to speak about Alpariz’s arrest.
Regional police officials also declined to give details about the arrest of the foreigner, but said the operation that led to the capture of Alpariz involved “many soldiers and policemen.”
No other details were made available about the foreigner, but sources from the army said troops recovered from Alpariz’s hideout improvised explosives assembled from mortar bombs and blasting caps, including cellular phones and an alarm clock.
Television giant GMA 7, which quoted unnamed sources, reported that Alpariz is a bomb expert and a member of the Indonesian terror group Jemaah Islamiya.
It said Alpariz was arrested at about 3 p.m. at his rented shop in Tapayan village.
“Alpariz is described by authorities as an expert in making improvised explosive devices,” it reported.
It said security forces recovered four improvised 60mm and 81mm mortar shells, a 1.5-volt battery, an alarm clock, a cellular phone, a computer set, two boosters for mortar, two electric blasting caps and detonating cords.
Alpariz was immediately brought to Davao City where he is being interrogated.
It was not immediately known if Alpariz was working alone or whether he had links with either the Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels or the smaller, but the most violent group called the Abu Sayyaf which authorities claimed had connections with the al-Qaeda and the Jemaah Islamiya.
Alpariz’s capture coincided with sporadic fighting between the MILF and military forces in the southern Philippines. The MLF is the country’s largest Muslim rebel group fighting for self-determination in Mindanao. (Mindanao Examiner)
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