Word: manila
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...associate Abu Zubaydah. In 1995, at Abu Zubaydah's suggestion, al-Faruq procured a fake passport and traveled with al-Mughira to the Philippines. There he joined Camp Abubakar, a terrorist-training facility run by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, a Philippine-based rebel group fighting for independence from Manila. According to a regional intelligence report, al-Faruq, while in the Philippines, unsuccessfully tried to enter flight school, in the hopes of commandeering a commercial plane and blowing...
...island of Borneo. Indonesian investigators discovered that four MMI operatives, including al-Faruq, had held training exercises at the same location. While al-Faruq initially managed to stay beyond the reach of authorities, some of his closest associates ran out of luck. In March Dwikarna was arrested in Manila after airport security guards discovered plastic explosives and detonation cables in his suitcase; the next month U.S. and Pakistani forces seized Abu Zubaydah in Faisalabad, Pakistan. A regional intelligence brief says on April 27 the CIA reported that the same cell-phone number, 081-2957-6852, had been programmed into...
...power of Indonesia's Islamic lobby was amply demonstrated earlier this year when three Indonesians were arrested in Manila with plastic explosives and detonator cords in their luggage. Despite the evidence, two of the men were released due to pressure from Jakarta, official sources in the capital say. The Philippines came close to releasing the third man, Agus Dwikarna, at which point U.S. officials directly intervened with Megawati (as well as with Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo) to warn against allowing the release. Dwikarna was later tried and sentenced to 17 years in prison for possessing explosives...
...Along with Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines have enthusiastically thrown in their lot with America. Singapore has long been a vocal advocate for a strong U.S. presence in the region, which it feels promotes stability. Manila is an old ally of Washington's and has for decades been battling its own Muslim insurgencies. Malaysia does have a Muslim majority, like Indonesia, but the government has never hesitated to use its draconian powers to keep the wilder fringes of the Muslim community under control, an attitude that seems to have been reinforced since Sept. 11 by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad...
...fall of Ferdinand Marcos, the corrupt former President of the Philippines, led to the first major break with the secrecy tradition. Under enormous worldwide pressure, the Swiss in 1986 froze accounts belonging to Marcos, and later transferred more than $600 million into an escrow account in Manila. The case marked the start of Swiss cooperation in international criminal cases and the advent of tough laws against money laundering. Any suspicions of money laundering must now be reported to a central monitoring agency in Bern. Strict rules hold senior bank managers accountable for the accounts of politicians, whatever country they come...