Charges against Indonesian dropped

Charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives against an Indonesian national allegedly a member of the regional extremist group, 'Jumaah Al Islamiya' were rejected on Tuesday by the department of justice.

Following this Philippine prosecutors have also dropped the key charge of illegal possession of explosives against Indonesian Fathur Rohman Al Ghozi suspected to be the demolition expert of the Al Qaida terror network in Southeast Asia, an official said yesterday.

"The charge was dismissed without prejudice to refiling because there was a need for additional evidence," justice undersecretary Manuel Teehankee.

However, he added, "This is only in the investigation stage and you cannot say the case has been dropped. There is no danger of him being released. He is detained and will continue to be detained."

State prosecutor Geronimo Sy, in a three-page resolution that was released on Tuesday, stated that Al Ghozi's alleged violations of the firearms and explosives law should be dismissed because the police had presented no evidence.

"The law enforcement authorities merely presented photographs of the alleged explosive components and failed to present the physical evidence," the document, approved by chief state prosecutor Jovencito Zuno, reads.

Al Ghozi, who was caught by police in Manila on January 15, allegedly led them to a hidden cache of explosives in General Santos City.

The underground stash yielded a ton of dynamite as well as 17 assault rifles and materials for detonating the explosives.

Sources at the justice department said that the fact that Al Ghozi was caught without actually being in possession of explosives makes it difficult for the case to stand up in court.

Nevertheless, the prosecutor said Al Ghozi should be held criminally liable for having in his possession several fake passports, including a forged Philip-pine passport.

"He falsely stated in his passport application that he was a Filipino. His alleged personal circumstances were untrue," Sy stated.

The justice department ruled that the law penalises people who willfully and knowingly make false statements in any application for a passport and also punishes the user of any passport which was secured in any way by reason of false statements.

Al Ghozi admitted to prosecutors in a preliminary hearing on February 8 that Jumaah Al Islamiya, an underground group with members in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia, is affiliated to Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaida network.

Police also said the suspect admitted to financing the December 30, 2000 bombings in Manila which killed more than 20 people.