Police arrest man transporting bomb materials in Mindanao

COTABATO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Nov. 5, 2010) – Police arrested a man in the Mindanao city of Cotabato who was transporting a banned chemical fertilizer widely used by rebels in the manufacture of homemade bombs, reports said on Friday.

Reports said Karadji Alari, a native of Sulu’s Maimbung town, was arrested after evading a police checkpoint near the village of Mother Bagua on Thursday.

Television giant GMA 7 reported that villagers secretly tipped off the police about the suspicious 32-year old man after he backed from seeing the security checkpoint in the village.

Police said Alari was carrying about a kilogram of ammonium nitrate and blasting caps. It was unknown whether Alari is a member of any rebel group operating in Mindanao. Authorities were also investigating if Alari was involved in previous bombings in Mindanao and Sulu.

Alari’s arrest coincided with the capture of a man who was believed plotting to bomb civilian targets in Manila.

Washington and other countries have alerted their citizens against traveling to the Philippines because of serious threats of terrorism, particularly in the volatile southern region of the country where security forces are battling Muslim and communist insurgents. (Mindanao Examiner)