http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level_English.php?cat=Security <http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level_English.php?cat=Security&loid=8.0.3606773 24&par> &loid=8.0.360677324&par= PHILIPPINES: NARCO-TERRORISM RAMPANT IN MINDANAO, OFFICIAL SAYS <javascript:aumenta();> <javascript:diminuisci();> Zamboanga City, 17 November (AKI) - Both the United States and Filipino authorities have linked local terror groups in the conflict-stricken southern island of Mindanao to illegal drug trading in Southeast Asian region. In an interview with Adnkronos International (AKI), police Superintendent Adzhar Albani of the Western Mindanao's Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) said this illegal activity is the new strategy of the lawless groups in this region to raise money to fund their terrorist activities. "They saw a greater opportunity and easy way of making money in the illegal drugs business compared to other activities, like kidnapping," he told AKI. "They get their supplies of mostly shabu-shabu [methamphetamine hydrochloride] from as far away as China and they have markets in the Philippines and even in neighboring Malaysia," he added, quoting an intelligence report Albari, who also chairs the United States backed inter-agency anti-drug Maritime Interdiction Coordinating Center (MICC), reported that they have already established strong surveillance team to monitor 'this group.' "We cannot yet reveal the identity of the group, because this could jeopardize our operation," he said. The MICC is part of the US commitment to help and assist the local authorities in its campaign against narco-terrorism. It draws its officers from the Philippine Navy, Philippine Coast Guard, Maritime Police and other relevant offices with the PDEA. However, Albari disclosed that the MICC is now monitoring in the Muslim provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi where the narco-terrorism activities are rampant. The three provinces are considered the strongholds of local terror group Abu Sayyaf. The group is a home grown terrorist organisation which in the early 1990s received financial support from al-Qaeda via Osama bin Laden's brother-in-law, Saudi Arabian businessman Mohammed Jamal Khalifa, who at that time headed a network of Islamic charities and universities in Zamboanga City, Mindanao. The group gained international notoriety with the kidnapping for ransom and murder of foreigners and Christian clerics. Since its inception the group has also carried out numbers of bombings, assassinations and extortion in its fight for an independent Islamic state in Western Mindanao. Furthermore, Philippine military intelligence has also linked the group to the Southeast Asia regional terror network of Jemaah Islamiyah. Abu Sayyaf is the main suspect in the February 2004 Superferry bombing that killed at least 116 people: the attack is considered the country's worst terrorist attack. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
