By Ronron
February 29, 2008
A foreign national was apprehended by authorities over the alleged assassination plot on President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, the Philippine National Police (PNP) said Friday.
PNP chief Dir. Gen. Avelino Razon, Jr. said the suspect was nabbed last Wednesday in a province near Metro Manila as a result of their follow up operations on the alleged kill plot against Arroyo that was bared on February 14.
"The PNP conducted operations and after that, a foreigner was nabbed. But we will not give his name yet because there are still operations to account for his other companions," Razon told reporters in Filipino in a news briefing at Camp Crame yesterday.
The assassination plot against Arroyo was first disclosed two weeks ago by the Presidential Security Group, the PNP, and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
Razon had said then that the information came from a document recovered from a park somewhere in Metro Manila. The document, which contained writings in Arabic, allegedly showed routes taken by Arroyo, including one at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC), and casing reviews of some embassies in the capital.
The embassies would reportedly be bombed, said Razon, while Arroyo will be hit by a sniper, said AFP chief of staff Gen. Hermogenes Esperon, Jr.
Razon said the document was turned over to the PNP sometime in the first week of the month by a security guard who first saw it.
Immediately after receiving the report, Razon said the PNP not just exerted effort to hunt the people behind it, they also heightened the security at the "embassies and vital installations."
"The casing is the first step of their preparations. We can say that the plan of their group was already foiled," Razon said yesterday.
Razon said that after initial interrogation on the apprehended suspect, police learned that he has links with the Jemaah Islamiyah and the Abu Sayyaf Group terrorist organizations.
"We asked the foreigner if he could explain to us why he has that plan. He told us something," Razon said but did not elaborate.
The PNP chief said the authorities were not suppose to disclose the apprehension of the suspect so as not to jeopardize their ongoing follow up operations.
"Up to yesterday, our coordination with the Chief of Staff (of the AFP) is not to talk about the apprehension yet… We are careful about this, but we are forced to disclose it now because there are reports that this (assassination plot against the President) is just a staged plan," Razon said.
"So we hope we can protect our policemen and encourage them to pursue the case. We should not be demoralized… The public should know that we are working," he added.
Razon assured that in due time, they will present the foreigner to the media./DMS
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